And I thought writing a novel would be the hard part. NOT!
Getting it edited is nearly killing me! I’ve been involved with this book for the better part of three years. Its true, I’ve done other things during that time, but yikes!, I thought I’d be done by now! I find the writing part relatively easy. I sit down at the computer and it comes to me. Maybe that’s why I found the whole idea of writing a novel somewhat amusing. Who knew!
I wasn’t trained for this – I was a cookbook author, journalist and lifestyle writer. Before that, an educated and trained interior designer. I’ve come into writing through the back door, so to speak. I’ve been fortunate to find wonderful people to take on the job of editing. They did it freely and with love and skill. I am so grateful. And I’ve learned so much!
Carol put her touch on with content and grammar. Debbie looked at commas and colons and made me nuts with my beloved dashes (she doesn’t like them). Anne whacked away at those commas again and made some significant vocabulary upgrades. Then, out of the blue, my friend Saralee is visiting me and I give her the first manuscript to enjoy reading while she’s vacationing. And I’ll be damned if she doesn’t find a slew of mistakes! Mostly typos, a few grammar problems here and there and even a content issue or two.
But the editor du jour has been my friend Karine. She was there from the beginning, egging me on and telling me I could do this. Karine told me to invent the darlings, then she made me kill them. She made me pump up the characters, or downgrade them. She held my hand, or rather each chapter, as I wrote them! Read them, commented on them, improved them, and all the while coaxing me, encouraging me and teaching me about the art of writing. There is no way I could ever repay her. I suppose only if the book becomes a hit, then Karine will reap her reward.