Edits!

Today I finished the second round of edits for Spellbound.  The first round, I wrote about in this blog, consisted mostly of grammatical changes.  This time around my editor called me out on three main things I was guilty of:

1. Frequent retelling of the same scene from the point of view of different characters which only served to stall the story. 
2. Needing to watch my telling v. showing issues
3. Tense shifts

I started making the corrections feeling overwhelmed by the infamous "red pencil".  There seemed to be so much of it.  It looked as though someone had bled on the pages (figuratively, of course.  I received my edit pages via email.  how else?)  The funny thing is, as I began and got involved in the process, I started to enjoy it.

The investigator in me (my day job) came out and I prowled my pages searching out the literary culprits.  Once found, I sliced and diced until what remained were sentences and phrases pleasing to the eye and the palate.  I read them, said them out loud to my kids, and read them again.  When they worked, they passed.  When they didn't, I slashed and burned them again.  Before I knew it, I had cauterized and reworked the first thirteen chapters.  So, I shipped them off to my editor and held my breath.  The email came back fast.

Good job!

Woo-hoo!  Invigorated, I attacked the manuscript again.  Whipped out my sword and hacked through chapters fourteen through twenty-two.  Ha!  I must have been sleeping when I wrote those.  Done!  Confidently attached those and flung them.  New email.  I was a pleasure to deal with.  What?  Wasn't this what I was supposed to do?  Maybe I was new at this, but I was sure this was part of the publishing procedure.  I felt it was my duty to keep my eye on the prize.  I guess I didn't know some writers didn't always feel the same way.  As far as I am concerned, we were all on the same page....getting me published.  Why would I throw any monkey wrench into that process?

So it is with great pleasure that I announce that today, a day ahead of my self-imposed schedule, I have completed the edits.  My editor is more than pleased and mentioned I will now move on to line edits.  Never heard of those, but you know what.  I am into this.  Bring it on!