It’s been several months since I posted anything about editing, so I thought it was
about time for an update.
When last we heard from our intrepid Editing Heroine, she was working
with author Christin Eubanks. In fact, Christin and I had just gotten the ball
rolling on the editing process. Her book, the first in a planned trilogy, was
not yet finished, but she was working diligently toward getting the rough draft
wrapped up. We had a couple of meetings and many email conversations, and we both
felt the project was progressing in a good direction.
Christin was able to finish the rough draft, I did a blow-through-it,
front-to-back read of the entire thing (with copious note-taking), and we had a
meeting. Quite a long meeting as it turns out. We talked through everything on
my hit list, brainstormed on some development ideas, and came up with some
specific ways for Christin to tackle the second-draft writing process.
After a hailstorm of rewritten chapters deluging my inbox, Christin took
a breather and some time to refocus on family and
life-not-involving-fiction-writing. She’s now back at it, with only a handful
of chapters left to rewrite.
Once I receive “The End” it will be time for me to print, punch holes
in pages, and put it all in my editing binder, ready for another
blow-through-it, front-to-back read with copious note-taking. I’m looking
forward to getting my hands on the revised manuscript to see what developments
have come about.
Meanwhile, in November of last year an old friend of my husband’s,
Pete, came for a visit with his wife. I’d met her on a previous visit, but this
was the first time meeting Pete. As it turns out, he was in the process of
writing his first novel, and I offered to edit and proof it for him.
Upon returning home, he emailed the manuscript-in-progress to me. I did
a very quick read-through, and gave him some general comments and ideas to keep
in mind as he continued writing his first draft. As with Christin, I also asked
for samples of books of the same genre that he enjoys, and which he would like
to emulate.
So, while I await the arrival of chapters in my inbox, I have been reading novels. Not a bad way to spend your time.
