Hello friends!
Apologies for things being on the quiet front here. It’s been a crazy weekend. I might just save all the details for my next “Random Nothings” post. In short, my cousin’s engagement party was this weekend. They live four hours away so we left early Friday morning to road trip over. The few days leading up to the road trip were just hectic with preparation, in addition to some work stuff. July is flying by. I can’t believe we’re in the middle of the month and year.
Anyway, I’m back and trying to get back into the groove of things. The weekend was so jammed packed with us driving around and family gatherings that although, I did take all my work stuff with me, I never got two seconds in the hotel to sit and tackle any of it. That gave me some anxiety. Now, it’s Tuesday (probably Wednesday to you) and my to-do list feels a mile long.
So, what are we going to chat about today? Well, I wanted to mention a couple things. First, I wanted to tell you about my business partner’s other business that is bookish related. Daydreaming Words is founded by Melody and she is a graphic designer who offers services such as e-book covers and promo swag designs.
Writers!
Are you in the process where your manuscript is needing a book cover designed? I highly recommend checking out what Daydreaming Words can offer. Melody is talented, professional, and develops great relationships with her clients. She is passionate to provide quality work for her authors. It’s such a pleasure working with her.
Next on today’s topic is of course, EDITING.
Also, currently known as, MY ARCH NEMESIS. I was recently asked an interesting question.
How are you planning on approaching your edits?
I paused and thought about it. Then, I explained that I was going to tackle the line by line edits first, then deal with the big picture, rewrites. She replied, “Why do the line by line edits first? If you’re going to have to rewrite big portions of it, wouldn’t the line by line edits be unnecessarily time consuming?”
That made me think. She was right. Why go through line by line of 458 pages if I may be cutting out and rearranging HUGE portions of it? After taking the evening to think about it more, I realized why I felt approaching the line by lines would be beneficial for me to tackle first. What came to mind first was how much I have NO IDEA how or where to dive in. I feel a bit overwhelmed and all over the place when it comes to making these NOVEL-LIFE CHANGING decisions. Right now, attempting to delve into the big picture issues and critiques and starting to break the story apart to figure out the rewrites is such a MASSIVE task that in all honesty, I’m not ready for that.
For me, I want to go through the line by line edits to also get a feel for what my freelance editor thought about certain sentence structures. I noticed she caught some consistency issues and commented on certain things I would’ve never caught myself. Once they’re brought to your attention, you’d think they were so obvious but being so engrossed in the story as a whole, I didn’t catch it.
Also, I feel, by doing the line by line edits, it will cause me to reread the story after separating myself from it for so long. In the end, I think it’ll benefit the big picture critiques and rewrites. I need to familiarize myself with the story again. I need to hear and recognize my character’s voices again. I’ve been consumed in an entirely different story and voice for the last few months while this particular manuscript was being edited.
I needed some time to process that question and understand what was best for me, but also, why it was best. Having that understanding now, I feel, will help me dive in more confidently while still battling the insecurities that I have NO idea what I’m doing, or that I’m going to somehow massively screw it up.
Lately, it’s the fear of wanting my story to turn out the best it can be. I don’t want to mess it up. So, there it is, friends! If you’re losing patience with my lack of starting, trust me, so am I. But life has also happened. This is the official week though. Red pen to paper, dammit!
Find out what, in the writing process works for you. Research some of your favorite authors and check out their blogs where they share their process. There are brilliant books out to help guide us as well. YouTube’s a great resource as I showed briefly on one of my previous writing posts. Try different methods and find out what flows for you. Writing a book is a very personal journey. Figure out the best means to tackle it that will excite you, challenge you, and provoke you.
Till next time, HAPPY WRITING!
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