BACK AMONG THE LIVING

Several months have passed since my last post.  I have spent every spare moment working on the edits for A New Season . It is a difficult thing to have your work gone over, line by line, and have someone question what you have written, how you have written it, and even question your use of punctuation marks. You suck it up because that is what the craft is all about. You know that you and the editor are working for the same purpose, creating the best manuscript possible.

This was a grueling activity. I worked during the day, came home to schedule a new job for the next day, and then worked on my edits. Not much time for a social life.

I learned a lot and my editor was patient with me. What I have learned will help me as I work on my second novel for the Friends of Scrapbook Etc. series.

I might take a weekend to just relax first.

A NEW SEASON--UPDATES

I know it has been a long time since I have posted here.  Sorry, again.  I am listed to work at 13 different school and the holidays kept me busy, but that is not what kept me from posting here.  It was all about the edits for A New Season.  Desert Breeze assigned me a very careful editor. 

The process of editing is painful.  It shakes the writer to the core.  The writer has created a world and the editor says, "Here is how we can make it more real."

Honestly, I didn't want to change a thing.  It was my baby.  Honestly, the process of editing the book makes it much better.

A New Season should be available in February.  I will give you more details very soon.

EDITS

Editing.  It is an emotional word for a writer.  A writer picks and chooses his/her words carefully. He tells the story that is in his heart, the story that plays over and over in his brain until it is put on paper.

Then the editor returns the copy.  There is so much red on the copy and notations on the margin that it looks like that paper that you threw together in JR High school. 

You thought you had a good story.  You have all ready written and rewritten the story multiple times.  Now, you aren't so sure.  With each correction you make, you feel your ego shrinking.  You swallow your pride and work on.

When it is over, you lick your wounds.  Then you read your manuscript and realize the story is more clear, more focused than it was before.

People think writing is easy.

SELF-EDIT/FORMATTING

Since I am consumed with my new contract and making deadlines, it is only reasonable that would be the topic of my next few posts.  There are many misconceptions about what it means to be a writer and what a writer's life is like.  Maybe this blog will give some insights.

True, I am not a writer like Stephen King or Jan Karon.  Still, I am a published writer and have been paid for my work.  --And I have never paid for my work to be in print.  I have always held to the principle that money should flow to the author, never away from the author.  It is how I have managed to wander through the minefield of publishing scammers.

Anyway, I have learned so much by working with Desert Breeze and I haven't even seen anything in print yet.  One interesting thing I was asked by the publisher was to do a search and find on my manuscript.  My first search was on the word that.  I was amazed!  It literally took hours to correct the overuse of the word that.  Then I looked for the phrase as if.  That only took about 45 minutes.  Then I was asked to search for words ending in ly--yes, those nasty adjectives.  That took another 6 hours.

What a learning experience!