WIP Wednesday: Into the Kitchen again!

I made a few of the T-shirts Duncan wears when
he guest-hosts on Beck's cooking show. See all of
them on my Facebook page!                                 

Before I was published, I labored under the very misguided belief that a writer wrote their manuscript, sent it off into the world, and that was that. Sure, there would be editing. Consultations on covers and blurbs. But the writing? That was done.

That, my friends, was a fallacy. Because editors aren't just there to catch typos and bad clauses--they're there to tighten up the writing and make the plot the best it can be. Which means pointing out errors in the arc, characters who are acting OOC, and basically wreaking wonderful havoc on your manuscript until it's the best it can be. Editors have a hard job, and I'm incredibly lucky that my publisher employs editors who are both talented and tactful, because it can't be easy to find nice ways to telling writers to cut sections because they're bulky, add things for clarity and pump up dialogue (and in some cases, as happened with Finding Home, add entire chapters, eek!). But I've never walked away from an edit feeling anything less than excited about how much better the book was, which is all down to how awesome the editing team at Dreamspinner Press is.

Anyway, now that I'm a grizzled writing vet (ha!) I realize that when I send a manuscript off to my publisher, I am most certainly NOT done writing. That was the case with King of the Kitchen. I had some really great editors working on it, with some great (but hard to hear) suggestions about where I could cut the manuscript to make it flow better and what I needed to add to make it really shine. Which is why now, months after the manuscript is finished, I'm still using King of the Kitchen for #WIP Wednesday. *g*


Beck and Duncan are playing up their friendship to the press, which now includes playing racquetball with Duncan's father, Vincent, and Beck's uncle, Christian. Vincent and Christian have a long-running feud, and here we see why.

King of the Kitchen, Dreamspinner Press, November 2015

“We’ll meet you on the court, then,” Christian said, brushing some invisible lint off his pristine white shorts. He and Vincent were both already dressed in their racquetball clothes. He gave Duncan’s jeans a distasteful look. “Do hurry.”

Beck wondered if he and Duncan should take turns changing just to have one of them on hand to act as a buffer between Vincent and Christian, but Vincent spoke before he could suggest it.

“I’ll head to the court to make sure they don’t give our reservation to someone else,” Vincent said. He sneered in Christian’s direction, his chest puffed out like a peacock. “Perhaps you could wait in the café. I believe they’re selling that brand of glorified tap water you’ve been hawking.”

Christian’s face went puce. “I only put my name on the very best brands,” he sniffed. “Not that you’d know anything about being judicious.”

Beck grabbed his uncle’s arm when Vincent took a step toward them. “Didn’t I see Arnie in the café on my way in? When I was in last week he asked me about placing an order for some premade dinners from Brix to sell here. Maybe you should go touch base with him about that. We’ll meet you on the court in five.”

Duncan snickered. “Save it for the court, old men.”

Christian glowered but held his hands up and stepped away. “I’m always happy to discuss new business ventures.”

“Expand or die, isn’t that your motto?” Vincent muttered, but he turned and headed down the corridor toward the courts when Duncan cleared his throat menacingly.

“This is such a bad idea,” Duncan said.

The photographer from the restaurant was just outside the plate glass window, so Beck slung his arm around Duncan’s shoulder and gave him a sunny smile. “The absolute worst,” he said through gritted teeth.