Revision Time!

Just a few days ago my fingers hovered over my keyboard as I looked at my screen. I had just written the last sentence of my second book!

I was at Panera. I cried. Yep, right there in the middle of Panera surrounded by other coffee shop goers.

It’s such a good feeling. It really is. Months I had been working on this book. Though not as much time was invested in this novel as Broken and Breaking Free (Broken was 800 pages when I finished! Talk about having to edit it down!), it still demanded a great deal of my attention.

I’ve loved every second of it.

When my fingers hit this keyboard, they just fly. Sure, I need to pause a lot. I need to find a just-right word, rephrase, research, etc. But I know what I want to say.

And when I’ve said it… I’m filled with an immense amount of pride.

Now I’m revising.

But I’m not done. Not even close.

When I revise a novel I reread it. Tons of times! From the first word to the last. I change word choices. I take out sentences, paragraphs. With Broken, I took out 110,00 words. No joke! I took out characters, entire scenes. Chapters even. I won’t have to do that with this book. It’s just the right length (about 310 pages right now) and every character in this book needs to be there. I just need to reread to be sure I’ve placed everything correctly, that everything makes sense and reads smoothly.

And I need to be sure my research is spot-on!

When I’m done revising, I’m going to revise again. And again. Until it looks perfect to me. And that’s when I’ll need an editor to look over my grammar and punctuation and to further help me realize what needs changing.

Luckily, I enjoy the revision process!

Until next time…

Amy

P.S. Be on the lookout for my next giveaway. I’ll be giving readers a sneak peek into this next novel. 🙂