One Step Closer

Lots of politics and history lately, so I am happy to change gears a little.

Last night I received an email from my editor that was titled “I think we’re there!” I had three things to check and that was it. My editing is done. The manuscript is DONE. I sent it back to her within minutes and she is sending it forward to the layout team.

This is a massive relief, honestly. I was pretty lucky with my editor assignment; she is a military spouse and really did a great job working with me and understanding what I was trying to get across in the novel. She didn’t try to change the language (forewarning, there is some pretty rough language in the book) because she knew that was how military people spoke. I call it “conversational cursing”. There was no push to change, alter, or push any woke agenda. She really just took my work and made it more readable. I feel really good about the end product.

Excluding the short exchange last night, we only passed the manuscript back and forth twice. Just twice. Really, the first time I looked at her edits and then made my corrections, I got a shot of anxiety right after I sent it back to the editor. No kidding. It hit me that my work will soon be out there for the world to read…and judge. I know the book won’t be for everyone. I know that someone will read it and say I am a shit writer. That sort of feedback is inevitable. It doesn’t make the anxiety any less real. I don’t do failure well, but this is something I will deal with when it happens. And it will happen.

This process was actually pretty short because I had a number of above average English teachers in my life. Other than making the format and punctuation meet the Chicago style manual, there weren’t a ton of corrections that needed to be made during the editing process. And, thankfully, my mother made me take typing when I was a freshman in high school. Probably the most useful class I have taken at any level of education. Yes, it was on big IBM typewriters and we used ACTUAL paper, but the keyboarding has translated in the computer age and it has served me extremely well. Being able to ten-finger type and not look at the keyboard is a godsend.

So, on to cover design and page layout. Decisions to be made, but much less work to be done for me.

One step closer.

Keep Moving, Keep Shooting