Burning the candle at both ends

New round of classes, added stress of friends, continued strain of 'tweaking' Unconditional before my final submission deadline of Friday 1/11, and lack of sleep for some very good reasons are adding up quickly. It's only Tuesday and right now my body feels like it should be at least Thursday. I have homework deadlines that need to take precedence over friends, family, writing, and sleep ... but I refuse to put my life on hold for school. The worst is almost over, I hope. The first week of class is almost over and generally that seems to be the worst of the quarter. It takes a week to get a schedule down of what is due when and plan out a schedule I can work with to accomplish all the required daily and weekly tasks, both for class and the rest of my life. I am able to do much of my homework at work in my free time again this quarter so this should help free up time in the evenings to spend with Jen and get some sleep ... except for the writing project I need to get finalized.

My agent has requested a final copy to go to Marketing with, apparently they do not expect it to be a polished 100% ready to publish work but it needs to be close enough that only minor changes will be required for most publishers. No pressure ... I'm excited that they feel it is good enough to send off to a publisher but also a little nervous about calling something a 'Final Submission'. I'll probably always think that I can improve on it, and may continue to re-write sections of it if for no other reason than my personal satisfaction.

Jen and I talked about it last night and I think I agree with her assessment that much of the content I was considering adding really should be in a different book all together. I have pieces of it written in my head, really should get them onto paper, and while I could make it fit the story line of Unconditional I'm not certain it would add that much to the story. It may serve to show the bond between the two main characters more and bring the 2nd story line of their friendship more into the lime light but it may also distract the reader ... I guess I'll write them and let an editor decide if they should stay for the mass market publication, that's what they get paid for right?