I recently received the edit for my book, “Waiting on the Outside”, back from my editor, Christina Frey.  And, I have been working on it diligently.  The other day I decided to just work on it all day for the next two days.  I called it  my “binge revision”.  I spent the two days making the most of the revisions she suggested, adding content she suggested, and in general making it better.  (She had over 340 comments)

An editor can really show you how you can improve, and she did. Where she moved things around, I could see how the flow of the story was so much better.  In places where she suggested I “beef” it up a little, I could see how it was more interesting.  Where she restructured sentences, I could see where my sentence structure could be improved.  Lastly, I appreciated her comments when something was really good. Yea!

I am by no means done.  I still have to go over the revisions, to make sure I did not cut any sentences in half or delete paragraphs while I was working!  Easy to do when you are tired.  I am also going to print it out and read it out loud to myself, because I have found it really helps to identify parts that could use a little touching up.  Writing is not any easy job, where you sit down and just write.  It is reflection on how it sounds, making sure it makes sense, keeping your voice, yet making sure the grammar is correct.  I could go on and on, but those of you who write already know this.  Rarely does a “perfect” paragraph just appear.

To those of you who are also in the editing stage of your work…good luck.