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Anton's avatar

This prologue rips. It’s cinematic, tense, hilarious, and surprisingly raw. I totally get why you cut it for pacing—but wow, what an opening. That blend of maternal devotion, class contrast, and sneaky black-ops humor is such a compelling tone. “I sacrificed on the altar of her success” and “my fingers felt like sausages” deserve their own awards. Subscribed instantly. If this is what landed on the cutting room floor, I can’t wait to see what made it in.

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Celeste Garcia's avatar

Wow. I needed this. Thank you! I often compare writing to finding yourself walking around the grocery store naked. It’s just so vulnerable. Luckily that’s only happened to me in bad dreams.

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Lorie Adair's avatar

Terrific writing!

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Celeste Garcia's avatar

It’s only the beginning (no pun intended). I took out an entire subplot. That was so challenging. As you know, everything is woven together. I just about lost my mind. I do believe I have the best product possible now and hoping my agent can get me a pub deal, but if not, I will explore self-pub. We shall see.

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Lorie Adair's avatar

I totally get it—all the threads are connected and now I have to re-weave this??? 😭😭😭 But agreed, when we can take a step back (okay, maybe a flight, lol), the work often does hang together better. Crossing my fingers for you!

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Celeste Garcia's avatar

Lorie, this is a huge compliment coming from you! Made my day!

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Lorie Adair's avatar

Richly deserved, and it must have been hard to delete that darling.

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