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.