Since I haven’t updated the blog in a couple of weeks, I thought I’d drop in and let you know how the editing process is going. It’s been a lot like pushing a heavy-laden wheelbarrow up a slope; tough at first, but as I go on it’s building momentum and I’m figuring out where to place my feet.

I took my editor’s very fine suggestions about the book and spent a week planning how to apply them to the book. I went through the comments, did brainstorming, and made a project plan on what to work on well. Then I posted the calendar plan on my wall and took a day or so to calm down. Stress is not a good playmate for creativity; getting as much of the stress out of my system as I could was critical to the final product.

Then I worked on character arc, the first and biggest project. The editor wanted a lower low for my main character, so I had to rewrite about 40 – 50 pages, introduce the ideas, and work out the consequences of those events in subsequent chapters. In other words, I had to set up the threads, and now I’m pulling them through the book.

Events have consequences (cause and effect), and good fiction reflects that. But, this naturally causes a few headaches in rewrites, as changing one domino in a chain affects a host of others. Still, it’s worth doing; events in isolation feel choppy, and dropped threads ruin books. So I’m pulling the threads through, showing the ripples of cause and effect, and asking myself what changes for this character at this moment. I’m making slow and steady progress, now that I have the process in motion, and very happy with my changes.

Next post (sometime this following week) will be about focus, and how important it is to maintain your vision during a project like this. It’s certainly been on my mind lately!