If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, I just posted a deleted scene from my novel “Warding Off Reality,” which is a love story set in a psychiatric ward. The book is set for release on August 2, 2021.
Here’s an update. So far, it’s been a smooth ride in revising the manuscript. I’m taking it one day at a time, one page at a time, one awkwardly-written sentence at a time. Writing truly is a skill that must be practiced. In all the years of this stop-and-go process of editing and revising “Warding Off Reality,” I have learned so much about writing as a creative form and the power of persistence.
I wrote “Warding Off Reality” as a response to a prompt back in the year 2005. Yes, 2005! And the first draft (actually, draft zero) was a comedic take on fairy tales that happened “once upon a time.” After writing the first draft, I decided to make the story more original by updating its time setting to present day and setting it in a psychiatric ward. Unpredictably, I eliminated a lot of things that are no longer in the current version, including a dragon and even a talking duck😄.
I’ve always been a persistent woman (that’s been my nature). However, no matter how many times I’ve fallen off this horse that is the “Warding Off Reality” manuscript, I managed to get back on. No matter how many emotional setbacks, life-changing events, or even when I felt as if I didn’t want to go on with the project anymore and box it up and shelve it into oblivion … I didn’t give up. I just returned to the project.
Now I have at least two deadlines staring at me right in the face: the novel’s August 2, 2021, release date and NaNoWriMo 2020. I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo this year because I have too many projects on my plate and therefore can’t expend my energy into creating yet another novel. I said this in my writing circle. They suggested that I can still join NaNo, but it doesn’t have to be to write a fresh batch of 50,000 words. I agreed, although I thought that wasn’t allowed for the November NaNo but rather for the April and July ones. Nevertheless, I am involved this November, editing nearly 300 pages of the manuscript. I know I can complete the editing by the end of this month. Once that’s done, I’ll submit the novel to an editor.
Free book promo on Book Funnel
For one day only, I’ll be participating in Digital Book Binge’s Free Book Friday on BookFunnel. The promo runs Friday, Nov. 13-Sunday, Nov. 15, but my ebook “Inner Demons: Three Fantasy Tales” will only be in the promo on Nov. 13. Get your fill of fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal books from Digital Book Binge’s Free Book Friday.
One final note
I type this on a Sunday afternoon, after having more than my somewhat fair share of the news and exposure to the real world (a.k.a. social media😜) for the week. Therefore, this blog post will end on a different note, one that has nothing to do with the literary or publishing world. And I want to only say this: No matter what happens in the next minute or in the distant future, for the rest of 2020 and beyond, I know that everything will work out for the best; and I believe that all the good in the universe is an eventual, unstoppable force thanks to God, no matter how awful circumstances may appear to be.
Teresa Edmond-Sargeant is an award-winning journalist and author living in Orlando, FL. In her spare time she enjoys reading, shopping, traveling, working out, volunteering, and filling her mind with useless factoids worthy of pop culture trivia games.