Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Tis the Season


Tis the Season is a phrase that tells us the Holidays are upon us. When a novel is going through production, tis the season for rolling up your sleeves and working as hard as you can, writing the best you ever have.

It's been a while since I last posted. Things are quiet right now, in regards to the production of
'Surrender the Wind'. I finished my edits a day early. What a fantastic experience.

Writers, when you receive your first round of edits, do not cry, wring your hands, panic, or throw yourself prostate on the ground. Shove all that emotion aside. This is a time of tremendous growth and learning. Dig in your heels!

My editor showed me areas of weakness I did not see before. She showed me places where I needed to take the reader deeper. There was one scene in particular that I had to totally remove. I had thought it was good writing, but she pointed out it did nothing to move the story forward. There were a few chapters that I had to do a total rewrite, and afterwards I saw how much improved the book is now due to the expert eye of my editor. She also pointed out the good things, noted where she felt emotionally engaged, where the writing was strong.

Trust you editor.
+++++++++++++

Note: My website has been infected with a bug. I have been sending 'tickets' to my web server and they have done nothing. For now it is down. If you know of a really reliable web server, let me know about it. I've been looking at some, and they seem great, except they have templates I do not like.

3 comments:

Jessica Nelson said...

I was wondering how things were going. :-)
Go you on finishing! And thanks for the advice.
I think I'll be happy to have an editor tell me what to fix, since sometimes it's hard to see it for myself.
:-) Have a great day.

Jessica Nelson said...

I like visiting your blog. :-) You have interesting info.
btw, did you get a new pic up of yourself?

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Rita -

Congratulations on finishing your edits. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes view and great advice.

A dear friend (a professional editor)has helped me with some of my chapters. She taught me so much.

Blessings,
Susan :)