My husband has always been my first reader. He’s both a cop and an avid reader, so his opinion means a great deal. I wait until the book is completely written, and then give him the first draft for comments. Last weekend, we had a cool Saturday – a perfect day to stoke up the fireplace and lay on the couch with a book. By Saturday night Todd had finished the book, and he discussed his reactions as I took notes. Now I have a bulleted list of items to tackle before passing along the draft to my editor for his first read.

My first reaction to Todd’s comments was excitement. I both understood and agreed with all of his comments (a good start). Most of his observations had to do with the last part of the book when the killer is discovered. I rushed through scenes and left out some significant details. I also completely botched the scene when the police confront the murderer. It made sense as I was writing it, but looking back on it, I realized the faulty logic the murderer used in planning his escape.

So, instead of opening up my Word file, I’m sitting on the couch drinking coffee this morning, trying to get motivated to tackle that bulleted list. I’ve already looked for living room rugs on ebay, stalked my daughters on Facebook, and added three new books to my Wishlist on Amazon. It’s really not such a long list of fixes, but I know that altering one scene will inevitably screw up another scene. I’ve written my blog now, and I’m fast running out of other things to do – unless I want to clean house, and the rest of the family is still asleep…