GADS, it feels like it's been a while since I edited!
So how do I do this again?
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| An editing demon, apparently. No wonder we're scared! |
* read and create beat sheets: Note: This means basically a sentence or two for each section... the whole book in 5 or 6 pages. This is nice because it makes me read it all holistically and also gives me a place to glance for where big plot ideas will fit... I can check for big holes...
- Note that I can't seem to keep from basic edits when I do this. So sue me. It just drives me nuts to look at typos, even in a section that may change significantly.
* Then, manuscript in hand, I mark WHERE these go and write them... and I mark the things in that I already know need to be added... maybe foreshadowing I didn't know I needed in the first draft, details about gardening (because these need a little research and I don't research much on the first draft because it sidetracks me)
* Then, I read it all again--pen in hand, this time looking more closely at wording, continuity, pacing, errors... This is the mid-level edit, but it is HERE that I send it to Peer reviewers. I tell them to ignore typo stuff... as the feedback will change stuff... this is the PLOT review.
* Once I have peer reviews, I do the same... BIG edits, then LITTLE (ideally... if time... another peer review round here...)
* Then read out loud for more careful editing, and send to agent...
First editing task up is the 2nd Cozy Mystery, due to my editor September 30. I Still have maybe 100 pages to type, but I have 180 pages printed to start the process. My PLAN... read in one week, big edits week 2, smaller edits week 3, so sent to peers by July 20.
Give THEM 3 weeks. Then take one to address their changes and send to AGENT by August 20. Give HER 3 weeks, then I have about 3 weeks to polish.
While peers have the Cozy, I will begin on Kahlotus. The three weeks my peers have the cozy MAY be about right, but this is a biggish edit, so it may ALSO take the August span... But that ALSO will go to peers when I'm done, then be revised and then go to my agent...
I think I can fit the revisions for the first three chapters of What Ales Me in the In-between... in fact because it is ONLY 3 chapters and a synopsis, and because I know who Ellen plans on sending it to, I may do that first. I have believed all along, this is an easier sell, and I'd really LIKE to have another sale...
GACK! I guess what I'm saying is I am about to dive into three solid months of editing... I have to change brains.. Thankfully, my friend Stacy agreed to exchange brains with me, as she just got OUT of editing and is trying to get writing again... So I've got that going for me.
What about the rest of you? Can you edit and write at the same time or does it take some transition? What are you working on now?
[This just in” When one google images: Editing madness, I find three of my fabulous Joris designed book covers... so we've got that going for us...]
And it's Thursday! You know what that means!
