Ah Hell, that is a lot of Yellow! That was my first thought I had when I opened up Google docs to start on the first round of edits that Scarlett sent me. I breathed in deeply, let out a heavy sigh, and then repeat. It took a moment for me to get myself unstuck from the ceiling, but once I had, I quickly realized the editing really was not as bad as what I anticipated. Scarlett put my mind at ease once we discussed why there was so much yellow in my manuscript; I kept switching back and forth between past and present tense, sometimes in the same sentence even. This is not something I had noticed, nor do I think I would have if she hadn’t pointed it out to me. But….this is what editors do and I’m telling you right now, never ask me to be one for you because editing is not my cup of tea.

Scarlett and I seem to have a pretty good system going. I shared my manuscript with her, chapter by chapter in Google docs. She goes in, edits a chapter and then renames it when she has done her part; then I know it’s ready for me. I read her suggestions; I make the necessary changes, and rename it to let her know I’m done. Scarlett goes back in to check it over once more and then we agree that it is time to let the proofer do his part. Josh does the same thing; he proofs it, shares it with me, and Scarlett and I look it over and discuss. We are doing this one chapter at a time until we have reached the end. When it’s all done, we will start from the beginning and read through it all again to make sure that we are satisfied with the finished product.

I have a graphic designer who is currently working on my cover. Thank You so much AJ Linn, author of The Gentleman’s Series, for connecting me with Jameson. Jameson is very talented and has presented me with a couple of cover ideas, and working on a couple more.

After the edits began I wrote my epilogue, synopsis, dedication, acknowledgements, note from the author, and table of contents pages. The synopsis was challenging. How do I take 63,000 thousand words and turn them into a couple hundred? Well, I did it. And I’m working on perfecting it, so more to come on that.

I was worried about the epilogue because I have not started writing the second book, so I had no idea what I was going to say. Friday morning though, it hit me, like a brick to the head. I sat down and hammered out an epilogue that I’m pretty excited about. And what I like most about it is that I can branch off of it in a couple of different directions when I start writing Raven’s Undoing.

Scarlett and I talk almost every day discussing the editing of my book. She has had to remind me a few times that, “I am the author, and this is my story. I can tell it how I want to.” Also, that “I do not suck.” (I worried that I sucked when I first saw all the yellow…lol…). And she has also told me numerous times that what I’m going through is a very normal process and all authors have to be edited. That’s what the editors are there for. She is so supportive and encouraging. The more I work with her, my confidence as a writer increases. The editing process really isn’t that bad and I’ve learned some valuable writing tips and so much more….. Especially just how much I hate the color Yellow.