Been reading Donald Maass’s The Fire in Fiction in which he talks about “trunk books.” So far, he hasn’t defined the term. But just by the way he says it, “trunk books” do not seem to be good things.
From the context I assume trunk books are old manuscripts, for whatever reason given up on and stashed away. In a trunk. Where they should, according to Maass, stay.
This kind of made my heart sink because I recently brought out an old manuscript (from a computer disk, not a trunk) and fixed it. It was fun. When I reread it after a couple of years, I could see immediately how to revise.
I really think it’s a good book now. In fact, this is the book I’m going to enter into the GH. The one I thought I needed 2 weeks to edit. But got to work this morning and two and a half hours later, I’m done.
I’ll use those 2 weeks to let it sit, and then, before I send it, I’ll read it again. One last time. Just to be sure taking it out of the trunk was the right thing to do.