nip, tuck, pull

I thought my book was done and ready for printing in April. It wasn't.

As mentioned in my previous post, I am doing a second round of revisions on my book. It's going well — well enough that I couldn't tear myself away to write a blog post until now.

If the first round of edits was minor grooming and cleaning, this round is more like plastic surgery.

The first time I did revisions, I had my blinders on. I was looking for ways to eliminate excess words and fix grammar. That was all good and well, but it didn't do anything to help my story. Now, I've had more time to think about it, and I've received more feedback on it, and I realized I needed to make some serious content changes to make it be the story I wanted it to be.

I've cut out scenes that I loved, but that didn't serve a purpose. I've written in new ones. I've even taken whole chapters and moved them up or back significantly. I'm not done yet, but already my book is better. And I'm feeling more pumped and excited about it. It's taking no time to do these edits.

So, what I've learned is that you can't be too attached to anything you write. You might love it, but it might not fit in your story, which means you need to ditch it. Also, don't be afraid to get in and mess things up a bit. You'll be glad you did.