I'm currently in the thick of editing "Wrong Place, Right Time" with my lead editor from The Writer's Coffee Shop. When I spoke with her via Skype, it sounded like quite a process. First, we would do the substantive edit, which takes several months. Then there is copy editing and line editing and a few other stages.
I have to admit, editing is not my favorite thing to do when it comes to writing. I prefer the creative part where I get it all out and then leave it behind. But I know it's important and I wanted to learn from the process.
Recently, I got the first section of edits back from my editor to work on on my end. I opened the document, which I took a picture of to show you what it looked like. When I saw the margins completely full of purple comments from top to bottom on every one of the 16 pages she sent back to me, I quickly turned the computer off and moved on with my day. It was Friday and I didn't want to ruin the weekend thinking about it when I knew I wouldn't have time to work on it.
Once Monday rolled around, I knew I had to get to work so I opened the document back up and dug in. Once I got going on it I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. That's assuming I did what I was supposed to do with it! :) Mostly, she deleted things here and there and I had to approve or deny those changes. I approved most. They made sense. Especially given the fact that the story is moving toward a shorter length.
Sometimes she would give her reasons for deleting something or rearranging a sentence and other times she just did it. And there was one area she wanted me to expand a scene, which made sense so I did that as well. I am thrilled to report that the first small section of the substantive edit did not take me nearly as long as I thought it might. I was thinking it might take the entire week...really I was!! Since it wasn't as painful as I predicted, I look forward to the next section and the one after that. It'll be fun to see it all come together into one cohesive story. I am excited to move on to cover design and other promotional aspects of the publishing process. The substantive edit is supposed to be complete by the beginning of June. I hope the rest isn't as bad as the first part, which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
I also have my fingers crossed that editing for "Accept this Dandelion" will not start with Prism Book Group until editing for "Wrong Place, Right Time" is complete with The Writer's Coffee Shop. I have this hope for several reasons...one, just for time's sake. I don't want to get overwhelmed with too much and too many deadlines at once. And two, so I don't get confused on character storylines and characteristics and so on.
While I await the next section, I am hitting the freelance writing world hard with paying articles and blogs and web content. The fiction stuff is way more fun, but it'll be a long time before it pays anything...if ever!
So for anyone else going through the editing process, just keep in mind it may not be as bad as you think. I was dreading it and now I'm not quite so much anymore. However, even if it IS bad and hard, it's worth it in the end to see your story the best it can be!
I have to admit, editing is not my favorite thing to do when it comes to writing. I prefer the creative part where I get it all out and then leave it behind. But I know it's important and I wanted to learn from the process.
Recently, I got the first section of edits back from my editor to work on on my end. I opened the document, which I took a picture of to show you what it looked like. When I saw the margins completely full of purple comments from top to bottom on every one of the 16 pages she sent back to me, I quickly turned the computer off and moved on with my day. It was Friday and I didn't want to ruin the weekend thinking about it when I knew I wouldn't have time to work on it.
Once Monday rolled around, I knew I had to get to work so I opened the document back up and dug in. Once I got going on it I realized it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. That's assuming I did what I was supposed to do with it! :) Mostly, she deleted things here and there and I had to approve or deny those changes. I approved most. They made sense. Especially given the fact that the story is moving toward a shorter length.
Sometimes she would give her reasons for deleting something or rearranging a sentence and other times she just did it. And there was one area she wanted me to expand a scene, which made sense so I did that as well. I am thrilled to report that the first small section of the substantive edit did not take me nearly as long as I thought it might. I was thinking it might take the entire week...really I was!! Since it wasn't as painful as I predicted, I look forward to the next section and the one after that. It'll be fun to see it all come together into one cohesive story. I am excited to move on to cover design and other promotional aspects of the publishing process. The substantive edit is supposed to be complete by the beginning of June. I hope the rest isn't as bad as the first part, which wasn't as bad as I thought it might be.
I also have my fingers crossed that editing for "Accept this Dandelion" will not start with Prism Book Group until editing for "Wrong Place, Right Time" is complete with The Writer's Coffee Shop. I have this hope for several reasons...one, just for time's sake. I don't want to get overwhelmed with too much and too many deadlines at once. And two, so I don't get confused on character storylines and characteristics and so on.
While I await the next section, I am hitting the freelance writing world hard with paying articles and blogs and web content. The fiction stuff is way more fun, but it'll be a long time before it pays anything...if ever!
So for anyone else going through the editing process, just keep in mind it may not be as bad as you think. I was dreading it and now I'm not quite so much anymore. However, even if it IS bad and hard, it's worth it in the end to see your story the best it can be!
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