Kristina Atkins
Confession
Since I became pregnant, I’ve read maybe four books. FOUR! In THIRTY ONE weeks!
The reason? Well, there’s a couple. The first is my reading comprehension is shot to hell due to … oh I don’t know, pregnancy brain or something. I read so much slower these days, and often have to double back on the more complicated sentences. Frustrating? You betcha! The second reason is that infamous word: NESTING. Dun dun dun! Seriously though, I have an extremely hard time sitting down and just enjoying myself these days. When I do, I immediately get the urge to clean something, or finish a project, or start a project. (Pinterest, as you can imagine, is quite dangerous!) Luckily, I can still write without that itch, due to the fact that I’m still “producing,” which is what my pregnant brain seems to demand. So hopefully once the baby’s here, though I’ll be super exhausted for several weeks, my brain will be back to normal, i.e. demanding to be reading every second of the day.
But like I said, I’ve been writing! I was shooting through the manuscript quite swimmingly when I got stuck at 40k. Stuck stuck stuck. So I shipped the manuscript off to my brother and it’s been the BEST. My family make GREAT betas because, while they definitely always point out what they like about my book (which is essential for me and my shaky confidence), they also point out what’s not working. So my brother (who is a certifiable genius, for the record) has been going through the book with me at night via chat, attacking one- or two-chapter segments. I was completely of the mindset that I just need to finish the book, flaws and all, and then look and see what I’ve got. But sending it out for help “prematurely” has made a huge difference. I finally know how to tie up this silly thing! And the bonus is once my other CPs see it, it will likely be in better shape since it’s already been through one fresh set of eyes.
Happy Monday!