ding dong my edits are done

I think I might have convinced my hus...I mean the IDP...that this whole writing thing is actually a job. I've spent the better part of a month, maybe two, working on edits for To Katie With Love.

The good news is, the edits are done. The book is amazing. And in less than two months it will be released! And I will officially join the ranks of all the other writers who managed to get a book published and into the hands of total strangers. And maybe then I'll get to take a nap.

Or not. There's still so much to be done. I have to write a dedication, an acknowledgement, a few guest posts, interviews, and if I can find the time...another book. ​

Yeah...definitely a job.​

Until the next time...​I'll be writing!

content edits, I have conquered thee

My first round of edits is done and turned in. With a 48 hour turn around time, no less. Not too shabby, if you ask me.  Then again, the lingering effects of a serious lack of sleep in the past 48 hours may stay with me longer than the feeling of accomplishment.

Eh, it was worth it.

Now the waiting begins. And as far as I'm concerned, this part is worse than the sleep deprivation, the alienated family members, and even the painful discovery of far too many adverbs peppered throughout the book (setting up a literary game of battleship to wipe them clean from the pages.)

No, patience is not my friend. And maybe we could have been friends, if things had been different. If being patient didn't require such...well...patience.

And save your sermon on patience being a virtue. I've heard it all before. I have many good qualities, but that isn't one of them. And I'm okay with that. I've made my peace. Accepted my shortcomings, as it were. I can't keep beating myself up over things I can't change. Like my genetics...my fingerprints...the exact shade of hair color I buy each month to fool the world into thinking my hair isn't going gray.

Sorry...I'm rambling. Are we there yet?

Until the next time...I'll be waiting (im)patiently.

and the edits continue

Have you ever had one of those perfect moments? You think, “Nothing could beat this…I wouldn’t change a thing.” Then a little time goes by and you glance at the photos from that perfect moment to realize the black eyeliner you thought was stylish actually made you look like a rabid raccoon. Or the over-sprayed hair that could withstand the gale force winds of a hurricane reminds you of a giant space helmet on your head. Or worse than that, someone else looks at your old pictures and tells you how bad you really looked on prom night.

Fashion is a fickle friend.

But I’m not talking about fashion (I don’t even look at those old pictures of me if I can avoid it) I’m talking about words.

More specifically, I’m talking about my book, To Katie with Love.

I find it almost painful when I realize the words I was married to, chained to like an activist to a tree, have to go. (Or words I never thought of need to go in.) Oh, it's not so bad, really…the story is amazing (if I do say so myself) but any story can easily be hidden by the over-use of words…sort of like the beauty hiding under a layer of black eyeliner and hairspray. And sometimes, after several rounds of edits, those words you ditched for whatever reason need to come back to solve a mystery you accidentally left unsolved. So, once again, I’m taking Katie back to her natural state, stripping away some of the make-up that takes away from her beauty, and adding back some bits I took out last time I edited. I like to think of it as giving her a literary boob job.

And trust me when I say, don’t let anyone convince you to write a book without a good editor. You will never be willing to part with the things you really don’t need without someone holding your hand along the way…or rather dragging you by the hand along the way. I've been blessed with several wonderful editors in this process (my newest editor is about to put me back to work, and I'm both traumatized and excited to do it.)

Don’t ever let anyone tell you the creative process is a simple one. Oh, it’s worth every drop of blood, sweat, or tears along the way…but it’s not easy.

But neither is anything worth going after.

Until the next time…I’ll be editing!