Update

I sent over the updated manuscript of Sweet. Rochelle said she'd get back to me in a few weeks. We've set up a meeting in two weeks to check in and review my timeline, which she sent to me through email. We'd like the manuscript to be polished and ready by the end of the month. The rest outlined the next steps in publication. I'm excited.

In the meantime, I've been working on the sequel. Rochelle and her crew have already started publicizing Sweet, with blasts on Twitter and Facebook. She even found the perfect picture for the cover. She advised me to check out the Aziza Publishing website so that I'd have an idea of what they do for their authors since the newest release was this month. I'm going to take the time to review Hannah Spivey's interviews. Thinking about interviews makes me nervous because I get tongue-tied sometimes. But I'm used to public speaking from school, plus Rochelle will be there to coach me.

I've had to make some tweaks to the sequel. I had noticed that I was dragging at first with revisions. I had been trying to psych myself off. My coworker Antoine said that the only person who can hold you back is you. I already knew I could be my own worst enemy. Here I was, freaking out and doubting the quality of my work before it had even been made public. Gesh, what am I going to do when critics get a hold of the book? Obviously Rochelle and her people loved the novel. They'll like the sequel. And if not, we'll work together, like with this novel, until it's perfect. I was being stupid. Ever since my mother told me to cut it out, I've been moving more quickly.