Progress, Hyperbole, Compassion
Silently–without posting a photo of one of my cats on social media whenever I found 30 minutes or more to edit–I have made significant editing progress. So let me start with the full nerd alert milestone: I just finished marking up a printed copy of the draft, and I’m now six chapters into typing up those changes. That’s a quarter of the way. With these revisions in place, I’ll send the manuscript back to my editor and start looking at publishing options.
No, I don’t have a publisher yet. And no, I haven’t decided if I’ll self-publish yet.
People ask these questions as if inquiring after the gender of a child. So, I guess I need to just respond that we’re keeping it a surprise.
That said, I’ve started a list of potential publishing houses and self-publishing resources. It will take me a few months to finish this editing round, and I’m planning to come out of it prepared for either eventuality. Now accepting your own suggestions.
I’ve needed to remain open to possibilities as I’ve read through pages and pages of my own work. This humbles me, putting me on the alert for entire sections to ditch, for rocky transitions, and entire chapters that want gutting.
However, all this spinning has made a better book. Alayne Smith, my mother-in-law and authoress in her own right, vows that she loves editing, because it makes of her raw thoughts a better book. And I know this to be the truth. Since late last year, I’ve examined the story of each woman throughout the narrative, then read each chapter from beginning to end for the full continuity. And this book– my own understanding of the world— is better for the effort.
It sounds like hyperbole, yet my day-to-day experience bears the truth of it.
This is, of necessity, intense work.
And that likely best explains my own hesitancy to post my progress; I’ll get through a chapter, then discover something that necessitates an entire do-over. I emerge with a key, triumphant, only to discover that it unlocks an entirely different door.
The Touchstone I hold close in these days is Compassion.
She reminds me to enjoy spinning through life’s cycles, to retain her sense of humor and self-care. To retreat, if needed, and keep practicing. I’m only one note away from the right note.
