Revision, Round #2

I heard back from Krista yesterday. For some inexplicable reason I was depressed for about 2 hours, imagining all kinds of ridiculous things like I was causing her too much work and that she'd never buy another book from me as long as she lived. And people, the second round of revisions isn't even that bad! Why are authors so psycho?

Krista told me that she once did 7 rounds of revisions with an author and then bought 3 more books from her. She also said her revisions with me are "normal to minimal." So yeah, that's about a nine and half on the old idiot scale, there, Dashner. I hereby declare that my rookie angst is officially done and over. This is just how it's done. It doesn't mean that I'm a horrible writer.

Why am I even telling you all this? Hey! Look at me! I'm an idiot!

Anyway, all is well, and I'm excited to work on THE MAZE RUNNER once again. This round will be far more pleasant than the last round. And since Krista's going on vacation, I have until January 5th! Plus, this time she made her line edits in the electronic document using track changes, so all I have to do is click "accept" or "reject" for each one. (Who am I kidding, I'll be hitting "accept" 99% of the time.)

Of course, I tossed and turned in bed for about 3 hours last night pondering my fixes. Seriously, these last few tweaks are once again going to take this book to another level. I am one lucky dude to have Krista as my editor!!!!! (And lest ye think I'm brown-nosing, I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog - the woman's too busy.)

In other news.....

Tomorrow is Authorpalooza XXLCXXVIIXX, to be held at the West Jordan Barnes and Noble. To be honest, I have no idea who will be there, but probably 10 to 15 authors, including me. It goes from 2:00 to 4:00.

I wanted to share another couple of very nice shout outs for my book that came from highly respectable humans. The first is from my very good friend, um, I mean, this complete stranger that just happens to be a National Book Award finalist. Her name is Sara Zarr. I think. I'm not sure because I, um, don't know her. CLICK HERE.

The other is from Bobbi's Book Nook, run by a very respected reviewer in Kentucky. CLICK HERE.

My last thought: Buy books for presents this year. And this isn't a plea for mine, because if you're here, you've probably already bought mine. But of all the types of presents out there, what could be more valuable and cherished than a good ole book? Save the book industry! Buy books. Buy bookstore gift cards. Not video games. Not toys. Not stupid things. Books.

Have a great weekend.