Editor!

So the publisher who refused my manuscript suggested I send it to a local paid editor to make sure it's ready to be published.  I did that.  I'm just not giving that same publisher another shot at it.  I will move onto another publisher when it's all polished up and pretty.  If they pass, there's a plan C.  If they pass, I guess it's indie publishing for me until I get picked up somewhere.

This week, I finished polishing it enough to send it to an editor at Eschler Editing.  We chatted for a while, and it's remarkable how human and genuine she sounded.  It made me feel at ease right away. I'll I asked for is to make sure the plot/characters work.  Those seemed to be the greatest issues the publisher had with my work [big ones, it's true].  That kind of edit is really not unreasonably priced.

I'll meanwhile send the new draft to friends and family who already went over it, so they can see the changes and tell me if the newest draft works for them.  So far, I've heard back from my nephew [not the target audience--not LDS, not female, but so far enjoying the book] and his girlfriend, who gratified me by saying I made her cry with it, like the healing kind of cry.  I know I feel better about it already, and I'm thinking after I use the editor's suggestions plus a few of my readers' suggestions, I'll be ready to submit it again.

In the meantime, I'm walking away from that manuscript entirely for a while, so when I see it again, it's once again with fresher eyes, eyes that can see it for what it is rather than for what I imagine it to be.

Again

                                                                                                                                                               

My first novel and second are tied, so whatever I do to one, I have to do to the other.  I have spent the last 2-3 months revising my first novel to be third-person instead of first based on feedback.  I knew this was coming, but I'm still stuck with it.  The second book, Pigs Fly, is only in first-draft but is already close to 80,000 words.  I'm back to the tedious [and long] process of revising the next book to be third-person.  Man, this is going to make me think twice about doing a huge chunk of books one and two before I finalize book one.  Because if editing one such book this way makes me want to pull my hair out until I'm bald, doing the same again makes me want to run screaming for the hills.

But the one thing I don't want to do right now is to even look at book one until I hear back from the editor.  I need a serious break.  And I haven't edited book 2 to death.  It's been really rough drafted, assembled and reorganized, and not much else.  I haven't even read it aloud to my husband, who's one of my best critics.  And it's not so bad to change things up in the tedious way if I'm still editing everything else.  So I guess minutia editing, here I come.

I did it!

Last week, I said I was going to get my major rewrite of my manuscript done.  I worked hard over this last week and one day late, I got it to the editor for recommendations.  I've rarely felt that satisfied as when I finished that.  Few things are quite as tedious as that kind of revision, switching from first to third person.  I know it still needs work.  I got further suggestions from another writer, some of which may match what I hear from an editor.  But I won't mess with any of it until I have it all sitting in front of me.  Then I'll use what works and get it submitted [again] for possible publication.  If this next publisher passes, I'm back and forth between independent publishing and a small publisher.  I don't mind the idea of going indie, though it would be nice to have the name recognition of a publisher for at least my first one.  

Meanwhile, I'm kind of at a loss as to what I should work on next when it comes to writing.  I'd love to just write, but I know that manuscript's sequel/spin-off needs work, too.  I've just been so single-minded for around two months that I haven't been into anything else for a while.  It does feel nice to know I have choices.  It's a good place to be.