Tag Archives: edit

The Editing Process…

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editing2Edit: To prepare (written material) for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it.

Editing: The act of putting something (a written work such as a literary work) into acceptable form.

Editing_Red_Pen1-300x225

When you decide to right write a book… you have to understand and accept that editing is all part of the process. The worst WORST part! YET ESSENTIAL!!!

Yes in the end the editing process makes your book story novel the best it can be. However, the moment you get your manuscript back from the editor… and it is covered COVERED in RED ink INK… WOW!!! Your heart stops!

At least mine does.

I imagine my editor sitting at her desk stacking piles and piles of red pens… brand new – fresh out of the box on the desk in front of her.

Red Pens

 

I can almost feel her excitement, from a thousand miles away, as she gets ready to strick strike that first line across the page. Yup, her joy is my pain!

The waiting… that time between sending her the manuscript and getting her mutilated improved  mutilate yet improved copy back… is almost as bad as the first ten seconds after opening the package after it arrives in the mail.

I SAID ALMOST!

But, I won’t lie, after I’ve spent the next few weeks reading and rereading all of her edits, comments, deletions, additions, etc. etc. I do have a better understanding of what will  is needed to make my book better the best it can be. Then, after spending a couple of week on rewrites… well, I feel more confident that sending the manuscript off to the editor AGAIN isn’t going to be as painful.

My process is this: write – edit – rewrite – edit – rewrite – edit – rewrite – edit – rewrite – final edit – final rewrite – final review by editor – final review by me – format – review – format edits – review – and so on… until publication!

I do not don’t use only one  1 editor… I have a team of editors. Why? Well, because if you read someone reads the same thing document over and over you they start seeing what the words should be instead of what they are. I like to have a fresh set of eyes to edit at different stages of the process.

THAT IS WHERE I AM TODAY!!!

I have gone through all the edits, all the comments, all the changes my editors could come up with. Yes, I accepted most of them but not all! I am now ready to move forward with the final round of edits. This round is purely for grammar – spelling – punctuation – etc. NOT TO CHANGE THE PLOT, CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, OR THE STORY! I want the book to have my voice – not the editor’s voice.

As my son’s karate teacher would say…

“BRING IT ON!”

 

Publishing…

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Why is it so difficult? WHY? Seriously, it should be easy. Write a book, edit, re-write, edit, re-write, edit, re-write, edit, re-write and on and on for months (okay, so it was more like a year and a half). Then you should just be able to publish! That is my thought. I get that you can just format and publish online, but I don’t want to just self publish online. Okay, I do, but I don’t just want to self publish online.

I WANT A BOOK!!! A book to hold in my hand. One that has my photo on the back cover – you know, as proof that I actually spent time, sweat and blood giving all of my creativity to my book. I want to share that with my kids as they get older. Something to give them to show them mommy did something. You know – really did something.

I’m not a big time lawyer with her own law firm (like my sister). I’m not a teacher molding young minds (like my brother-in-law). I don’t work in the medical field (like both of my parents did before retiring). I’m not an amazing, could have gone pro golfer (like my husband). I’m just me – a could have been actress (who left Los Angeles just as my career was ready to blossom) – an artist who hasn’t had time to pick up a paint brush in years – a wife and a mother who would do anything for her family and to tell you the truth my family is my most important accomplishment. But, this book – this book was for me. I wanted this for me – to prove to myself that YES I CAN!

So, WHY IS IT SO HARD?????

* Deep Breath*

I wanted to be published by the end of last week. I had a plan – get the ISBN package. About that – Why do you have to buy them ten at a time? Not every author can commit to writing ten books. I get two at a time. I mean you are required to have different ISBN numbers for print books and electronic books. So, you know most people publish is both formats right? So, two makes sense, but TEN? Really? Come on! I mean, I’ve written two and a half books. Book two is still in the rewrite – edit – rewrite – edit phase, and book three is only half way done. I have a long way to go before I need ISBN numbers 3-10.

The real issue I have with all of this is that once I shell out the $$$ for the TEN ISBN numbers and pay the formatter to design the cover and format the book for both print and ebook… then what? Most self-publishers sell copies to their family and a few of their friends (not even all close friends ever really shell out the $2.99 – $9.99 to support their friends). WOW, come on people – it’s less than $10.00 you spend more at the local fast food place for a hamburger, fries, and a drink. Then after you do buy the book the author only gets like 10 cents for every dollar spent – The chances of a self-publisher ever making back the money they spend on self-publishing is slim to none.

Does that mean I’m not going to self-publish? HELL NO! I have to. Like I said this is something I need to do – for me. I have to prove to myself that I can. It just seems to be taking me more time than I had hoped. GOTTA SAVE THE MONEY. If only I could find a money tree.

Okay, that was my little rant – Sorry – I just needed to vent!

Have a great day!

Almost Published…

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It’s been a while since I blogged about the book I’m writing, and I’m sorry for that. This whole blog was supposed to focus on the process of writing my book and what I’ve found is that its hard to sit down and type about typing a book. I’d rather just type the book. You know what I mean?

Anyway, I wanted to make it public – book one is done. All I have to do now is figure out if I need an ISBN number to publish an e-book, if I can use the same ISBN number for print and e-book formats and then I need to get the cover designed and the book formated into an e-book and for print. I already know who is going to do the formating and cover design. I plan to get that started today and should have the final project done in the next week or two.

Wish me luck!