The final editing push...

Well, here I am, editing away.  I actually enjoy this part of authoring... I like to smooth out my writing, change words around, and remove words that fog up the thought.  It's a challenge for sure, but in the end, it you pass a pretty clean manuscript into the editor, it's satisfying.

I’ve had a busy few weeks with other things going on – my sister is visiting and that’s always fun, had an art show to put together – all fun but time consuming.  So April is my target for finishing up the editing on this manuscript.

I’ve made a first pass through cutting out maybe 3,000 words and am on the second round now.  It’s not unusual for me to go through my writing maybe four or five times.  I’m a type-A person and it shows when I’m writing, but pays off when the editing cycle by the publisher is shorter.

The one thing that I look for are repeated words.  We all have those very special words that show up ALL the time – my favorites are “just” and “only.”  I also have a habit of placing words in awkward places.  You find these by reading your work out loud.  You can also (another favorite word of mine) find places where the action can tell the story better than you describing the scene.  I know, many things to remember and even more to look for as you edit.

One of the breaks I took yesterday was to visit the Downton Abbey Exhibit.  Now if you love that series and love that era, go and visit it if it comes to a city near you.  As I walked through each room/set, I could envision an entire new story in my head… my writing juices were going as I took photos and notes.  It was like being in that time and place… hearing the pots and pans in the kitchen, smelling cinnamon from cookies baking… nothing like it.  With a bit more research, an entire new story might emerge. J

Between all my activities and editing tasks, I’ve also done some work on the sequel to “She’s Not You,” the Oyster Point Mystery series.  It’s coming along and I’m finding Jamie and Jack becoming involved in an entirely new set of situations that I never envisioned in the first mystery.  You will encounter Lizz and Mike – will those old loves be too much for Jack and Jamie’s relationship?  And of course we have two new cold cases that Jamie is already knee deep in.

Well, back to my editing.  I hope that you are writing something… a journal, a short story, the great American novel.

Oh, and I also received a copy of my cable channel interview I did in December.  As soon as I receive a link from the station, I’ll post it!

Till,

Judi