Enjoyment

I haven't gotten to the meat of reviewing the manuscript I had the editor go over, After the Dream, though I've started it.  I'm right now focusing on finishing turning its sequel, Pigs Fly, into 3rd person since 1st person from two perspectives was not working for many people.  It's a long, tedious process.  However, I'm finding it enjoyable because I quite like the characters and the story.  Which tells me readers are more likely to enjoy it.  I've heard it said that if a scene from your story makes you laugh or cry--feel something--chances are good you'll get a similar reaction in your reader.

Here's one of my problems with the first manuscript, the one I've been procrastinating: I've gone over it so many times that it's hard to view it with new eyes.  It's difficult to feel all I'm supposed to feel with it anymore because it's hard to gain any distance.  One major reason I haven't tackled it yet is because I'm trying to achieve that emotional distance again, to be able to see it with eyes as fresh as possible.  But I haven't actually read the second one all the way through, yet.  It's still fresh to begin with.  It's much easier to enjoy because I've only ever read it once, maybe bits of it twice, including when I first wrote it.  I imagine I'll get tired of it, too, one day.  But the manuscripts need to be published in order for them to make sense.  Soon, I'll be done with the work on Pigs Fly and will get back to After the Dream.  In the meantime, I will keep enjoying that second manuscript as I ready it for my alpha and beta readers.