Trepidation and Excitement. Those were the two feelings that
coursed through my body when the edit of my manuscript appeared in my inbox. My
editor's initial feedback had been rather positive, but as time passed and I
waited for the corrections, the "paranoid me" of course began to
worry. I even dreamed up drastic scenarios of a complete rewrite -- or worse.
As a reporter, I obviously was used to working with editors.
This, however, would be my first time working with editors on my fiction. The
unknown can be a bit scary.
Happily, the drastic scenarios remained in my over-active
imagination. But that doesn't mean I don't have work to do.
I decided to leave the paranoia behind and attack the task
in a confident (or almost) and organized (sort of) fashion. I had a look at all
of the editor's notes and then set to work on the first point. At first, I
struggled, spent ridiculous amounts of time on one paragraph, lost confidence
and then gained it back.
And then, "click!" That's the light bulb above my
head. As I progressed, returned to previous sections and re-read the editor's
notes, all of a sudden, I truly understood! The same style issue had been
reappearing, like an unfortunate leitmotif. But now I could actually recognize
it on my own and correct it.
So with this boost of energy, I continue with eagerness
(always) and enjoyment (most of the time). And the rest of the time, I still do
spend way too long tinkering with one paragraph…
Oh, that sounds such a testing process. I can imagine how hard it must be to force yourself beyond the negative self-criticism towards the positive self appraisal. And it sounds as if you have - well done! I look forward to reading how the struggle continues.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much! It is a great learning process... A bientot!
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