Yeah but never say never. As others have said, make it the book you want. The chances of a sale are small for everyone right now, but if it is as close to the book you want it to be as you can get it, your chances of a sale are better than if it is a book you screwed up to please others.

Also a good point.

Sorry for the discouragement flare-up.

We all have our Billy Walsh moments, Gud. (Billy being the insano screenwriter/auteur character from Entourage who goes from day to day sometimes hour to hour thinking "I wrote Mean Streets" or "I wrote shit.") Sometimes I get embarrassed watching him. Despite the drugs and gambling, his thought processes can be all too familiar sometimes.

I'm also having a bad couple of days and not a lot of sleep, so it seeps into the hobby as well.

It's interesting to see all the world-building people go through to write a fantasy novel. I have to admit I sort of went with the make sh*t up as I need it approach. I think there is a lot to be said for intricate world-building, but making sh*t up has certainly helped me save time.

Next week is BEA, so everyone in publishing will be away.

The week after that, my agent is submitting my proposal for Gothic Charm School 2 to my editor!

Good luck!

"She loves New Orleans. The heat and history and dissolute greatness that's slightly shabby and decaying around the edges. It's relentless and primal and everything hedonistic that she's always wanted to be."

Every now and again, I come up with a little bit of something I'm really, really proud of.

As you should be.

Aw man, that post about world-building made me sound like I was saying 'My approach to world-building is soooo much better.' I was more meaning, there are a lot of people out there who make me feel like a real slacker when I look at my one page of notes that's really a list of names so I spell them the same. They will have all the richer worlds than mine, but at least it saved me time.