My Novel Saga: In this Episode, "The Edit" …

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…