A few weeks ago, I realized I was hitting a wall with my book.  I have proofread it forty times, and every time I read it, I find more errors.  As I write, I am often unsure if I am giving too much information, or not enough. I struggle to split the book into chapters. I needed another person to sit with me and read it.Someone who knew me well enough to be honest about ideas, and who knew me well enough to keep my personality in my writing.

One of my best pals, Meredith, was the perfect person.  I don’t have to explain much to her, because she already knows.  She went to Penn State for English, and she reads more books than anyone I know.

We both have two young children, and trying to find a couple of days that we could be productive (aka kidless) sounded tricky, but once we tossed a few dates around, we each had two full days that we could commit. We looked for a few places cities where we could meet up and decided on Baltimore.  That way, she could drive, pick me up at the airport, and head to the hotel to get to work.  My only request was to stop and get some chai tea on the way.

We found a hotel that looked beautiful on the Internet, and packed a bathing suit, yoga pants, our computers, and two hard copies of the book.

I left on Sunday morning, had an uneventful flight, which I prefer. Meredith picked me up, and away we went.  We arrived at the hotel- much less beautiful than it looked online- and checked in. We looked at the pool from the 14th floor and saw a giant hair ball floating in it!  We should have left the bathing suits at home. We also noticed that our window didn’t lock, and fully opened, with no screen.  After a few laughs, we got to work.  I imagined us breezing through the book, breaking it into chapters, and finalizing a query letter to prepare to send out to my list of literary agents.

After figuring out a system that worked, Meredith reading aloud and me following along, we worked until we needed a lunch break.  Of the 160-ish pages, we were done with 6.  By dinner we made it to page 18.

The next day, we read and made changes all day long.  We read until both of our mouths were having trouble getting the words out.  We laughed at the funny parts, and cried at the sad parts.  We went to bed close to page 120.  The next morning, we worked until I had to leave for the airport.  We were nowhere near finished.

I am grateful to have a friend willing to pause her life and sit with me in a crappy hotel for 2 days.  I am grateful we were in a crappy hotel and not distracted by a clean pool.  I am grateful for an amazing husband and parents who can always hold down the fort for me. I am grateful to have a good chunk of the book edited. I am grateful for summer break, which always teases me with a little extra time, although there is just never enough.

On July 1st, I will send my first query letter out to prospective agents. Which means I have two weeks to get my ducks in a row.  Thank you for always being my team, and cheering me on, whether I falter or succeed.