Over the last month or so, I’ve been doing a final polish of my book before I put it out to print. I was sad to find so many errors in it that I missed on the previous 7 edits, but I blame myself for I did not do the one thing I should have: Read the book out loud to myself.
Well, now that I have, it has been a very different experience for me. I was given a chance to experience the work from a more detached eye, and see some things that I was unable to before. It’s been a very nice blessing.
That said, I am happy the job is done, and if all goes according to plan, the Trade paperback will be available on Amazon in a week or so.
Before it goes out, though, the changes will be uploaded to Amazon, and according to their technical notes, you should all be getting update notifications. Please take the time to upload them. They’re supposed to be free, so you have nothing to lose there.
What I found interesting as I edited that I was able to experience the characters more honestly I think. I didn’t have all the internal chatter in my head, and I could see more clearly ways to restate scenes that might have been clunky before. The content has not changed, but the delivery is far better… except for one scene.
Yes, one scene was decidedly lacking oomph. It had been weak from the start, and I didn’t know how to deal with it, till a suggestion was given, and I started rearranging sentences to try and get my meaning across clearer. Then one paragraph became two, then three… and a whole new level of hard fought meaning revealed itself. I went back over it, and made sure it made sense and held up… and got excited. I realized that this scene now set the stage better of what was to follow, and made a much deeper impact.
I cannot wait to share these changes with you, and get the book in print.
But, not to fear, Book 2 will now start moving forward again, after I reconnect with it more. I will be doing a partial edit to reconnect with the characters and then hope to get much of this done. I’m setting a personal goal for Memorial Day Weekend, just like ALRDW and the first draft of Book 3. You did remember, Book 3 was already written? Well the first draft is, and it will be heavily edited, but, won’t be as hard as Book 1. I’ve learned some tricks and lessons.
Now I can play Guild Wars 2 with less guilt.
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