Off to the manuscript assessment service

Yesterday I emailed my manuscript to Sharyn, my supervisor, who will now send it off to the manuscript assessment service.

The assessment process will probably take about 6 to 8 weeks, so it should be ready for me to get into just after I come back from New York.

I'm pretty happy with Girl in the Shadows as it is at the moment, but I'm sure that the assessors will find plenty to pick on. I haven't read the manuscript as a whole since I rewrote the ending, for example, so they may find some disjoint between the beginning, middle and end.

I do know that both Mal and Tash, the main characters, go through a lot through the course of the narrative, so it's natural for them to change. (And isn't that what a good story should be about - how people change and what makes them change). But in any manuscript there's so much to think about - plot, character, style, structure and more - it's hard to keep a handle on everything.

What I'm looking for from the manuscript assessment process is some clear direction on where the manuscript can be improved and how much more work needs to be done before it's at publishing standard. If I can get that out of it, I'll be happy.

And now, I suppose, I should focus on writing the exegesis. I wonder how I'll motivate myself to get back into that?