This post was inspired by an email I
received Friday afternoon. That's right, you guessed it. Edits for A SLITHER OF
HOPE have arrived!
Friday:
An email ping. Check email. The
Letter has arrived! Eep! Freak out, in a good. I'm really excited to start working
on these edits. Then, since I'm checking the email from my phone, I read the
body of the email instead of trying to read a long editorial letter on a tiny
scream. My editor says: duh, edits are here. Hehe. Sorry I couldn't help
myself. So, it does say edits are here. It also says, feel free to contact her about anything. Awesome. If--more like when--I have questions or issues or am
confused about anything, I can shoot her an email or schedule a chat session.
Great! (My editor is awesome, BTW).
Then she writes, word for word:
For this weekend, I highly recommend
not doing a speck of editing and simply celebrating the wonderful work you've
already done. :)
Me: Uh. Ok?
I celebrated when I handed them in,
so...do I celebrate again? What does she really mean by no editing this
weekend? But...
Aaaaand bring on the doubt,
self-loathing, and the inevitable pity party.
Oh, God. What does does the
editorial letter say? It's awful. I know it's awful. Why else does she think I
should wait to look at it? (keep in mind, I haven't even peeked at the official
letter yet.) It's crap. My writing is so bad, the story is riddled with holes.
*headdesk* This is going to tear me apart.
Ah, yes, the dreaded--and
inevitable--downward spiral. For most writers, self-doubt is all part of the process. When I handed in this book, I was happy, excited,
proud. Every time I complete a project, I have this feeling that my writing
gets better and better.
Until a professional takes a look at
it. Then I dread what might be coming.
So, instead of being a mess, I take
the rest of the day to watch TV and relax (mind you I'd already written my 2k
for the day).
Saturday:
Sleep in (hey, thirteen minutes of
extra sleep is technically sleeping in), do morning chores, and get some
writing done, because hey, let's face it, once I start edits I'll probably have
to push A MATTER OF TIME aside for a while (unless I can find a way to edit during
the first half of the day, then write for the second, but I'm not sure I'm
capable of successfully project jumping that way, even if both projects are
books in the same series).
With words done, I take Spartacus
(come on, you know this by now, Spartacus is my laptop) into my office, shut
the door, and open The Letter. Four pages of The Letter. *gulp* And it's
formatted like a book. This bothers me so much, I have to change it. Good. Now
it's right. And only two pages! *small leap of joy* Still, my hands
tremble as I read.
I finish the letter and fold my hands together.
It's not that bad!
Maybe she went easy on me,
or, okay, so maybe I built it up so much in my head that anything short of THIS BOOK
SUCKS! START AGAIN! would have been fantastic.
In all honesty, she pointed out a lot of
things that I struggled with during the plotting and writing process(es).
Next, instead of tackling the
actual edits, I take the rest of the day to let it sink in and catch up on some
cleaning, laundry and DVR. Because once these edits get started, all that will
fall by the wayside.
Sunday:
It's Mother's Day. I'm not
heartless, so I take the day off; talk to my mom, go to a Giants game, and take
the in-laws out for dinner.
Monday-Wednesday:
I read through all the comments in
the side bar of the word doc, making notes in a separate notebook as I go. I've
actually just finished, and have five pages of notes in my notebook, which
isn't bad. Some suggested changes are minor, some are much bigger.
I'm really looking forward to start
making changes, and while the smallest are the easiest to make, therefore the
first I really want to jump at, I'm going to take my time and think over the bigger
picture stuff first. To do that, I'm breaking out my A SLITHER OF HOPE
whiteboard and start brainstorming the major changes first. This should take a
day or so.
Then I can shoot my editor an email
with any questions I might have. Right now I only see one question in my
notebook that I've written HOW?!?!?!?! beside, but instead of emailing her
fifty times, I'll do her a favor and wait until I can form a single, coherent
email.
So, as much as I'd love to stick
around, work calls!
If you have any questions about
edits or editorial letters in general, I'm no expert, but I'd be happy to answer anything I can. In fact,
if I get enough questions, I might be able to answer them in a detailed blog post next Wednesday.