I’m typing this quickly, and at 5:00 in the morning. There’s a feeling of adventure about being up at this time of day when you’re not used to it. It feels like the days when my parents used to wake us up early so we could get the long drive to my grandparents’ cottage out of the way before:
a) traffic hit in Toronto
or
b) my brother and I were awake enough to “ARE WE THERE, YET?” the whole way
…I’m not actually sure what the reasoning was, there.
The point is, ADVENTURE.
Well, my friends, I’m on a different kind of adventure this morning.
Edits are back, after a few delays in getting started and finished. I’m not going to lie to you. It’s not pretty. There’s more work to do than I’d anticipated based on early reader responses, thanks to some amazing ideas from my editor on how to make this thing kick more ass.
Like, ALL OF THE ASSES.
Mature, I know.
It’s the advantage and the disadvantage of getting developmental/substantive edits, I guess. There’s no “I can whip through this in a week by accepting and rejecting line edits,” which I imagine feels pretty sweet. There’s more gnashing of teeth this way, more re-writing of scenes and re-considering of elements, and more hard questions about everything. It leads to more self-doubt, for me at least, and more heartburn.
But damned if it doesn’t lead to a better, stronger, more satisfying and more entertaining book in the end. Bound was good before those big, bad edits. It came out of the fire far better. I’m aiming for the same here, and want to create the most amazing book I can for the readers who are making all of this possible.
So what does this all mean?
For me, it means a lot of hard work. I still want to stick to the time-frame I had planned, but… well, remember when I joked about becoming an editing-cave troll through much of the winter?
I thought at the time that I was exaggerating. I was not.
It means you’re going to see less of me around here, and on Facebook, and elsewhere. That stings. Authors these days are expected to stay on top of social media, and quite frankly, I enjoy it. I love you guys. Chatting with you in comments and posts makes me smile.
But that’s why I need to back off. Because you deserve the best.
Torn is a good story. It’s one I believe in, and one beta readers already loved. And after going through editing notes, I believe it can be great. Better than Bound (and isn’t improvement always the goal?).
It also may mean a delay in the book’s release. It definitely means I’m not putting a firm release date out there until I’m at least through the larger re-writes. If I were free to work on this all day, every day, I’d say there would be no problem sticking to my original goal. But I’m not. Technically, writing’s not my full-time job–my family is, and they’re not going to be pleased if I throw bags of uncooked ramen noodles at them every day for the next few months instead of cooking, or if they have no clean underwear… ever.
I know. Totally unreasonable, right? But I’m basically stuck working the 5 hours a day when the kids are in school, weekends off.
So here’s the plan.
I’m using this up-early time to write this post, and then to go over notes again, read through the line edits, see what changes I’m going to make, and which I’m not. It’s not an easy process, but it’s step one. After that, it’s organizing, brainstorming, re-writes, minor edits, line edits… and then my wonderful second-round beta readers will get their hands on it and tell me how we’re looking.
I’ll keep you all up to date on what’s happening as we go.
Yes, I’d still like to do pre-orders by the end of February. Yes, I’d still like to release in March.
But quality first. This isn’t an assembly line.
It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.
disregard the prologue 
January 9th, 2015 at 9:41 am
Good on ya, take the time to do it right! See you on the other side of an improved manuscript. 🙂
January 9th, 2015 at 12:48 pm
Thanks, Amos!
January 9th, 2015 at 9:52 am
I really love your approach here. This is similar to where I am at really. Although I have written three books, the first one is still having major edits for the same reasons as you have mentioned here – to make it the best book it can possibly be. And we owe it to our readers to do that and we owe it to ourselves. So good luck with it all I hope you never run out of noodles! 🙂
January 9th, 2015 at 12:49 pm
Thanks, Jade!
I need to work on my throwing arm if I’m taking the noodle approach, though.
January 9th, 2015 at 10:54 am
Right there with you. Good luck!
January 9th, 2015 at 12:50 pm
Thanks, Allie!
January 9th, 2015 at 12:19 pm
I’m envious of your plan. So clear and decisive. Mine not so much. You will make awesome happen! Keep up the good and hard work! 🙂
January 9th, 2015 at 12:20 pm
My secret is faking confidence and only crying on the INSIDE. 😀
January 9th, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Wait, did I say that out loud?
January 9th, 2015 at 12:24 pm
No. You told me that telepathically. You’re safe. I won’t tell. 😉
January 9th, 2015 at 12:36 pm
Whew. Wouldn’t want anyone to lose confidence in me!
January 9th, 2015 at 12:27 pm
Happy editing, Kate!
January 9th, 2015 at 12:50 pm
Thank you! Not sure “happy” is going to be possible, but I’ll aim high. 😉
January 9th, 2015 at 1:07 pm
This is actually exciting news, Kate. While your fans and followers will miss the frequency of your entertaining posts, the importance of the work you’re setting out to do can’t be overstated. Is it easy? No. Will your time and effort be worth it? Absolutely! I have a feeling you’ll soon be writing about how blown away your second-round beta readers are when they read the revised manuscript!
January 9th, 2015 at 1:09 pm
Thanks, Candace! I appreciate that, coming from an editor.
The first-rounders enjoyed it… here’s hoping that by the time I’m done with this bunch of edits, everyone else will be really blown away!
January 9th, 2015 at 7:05 pm
You got this! I can’t wait to celebrate with you after it’s all done!
January 10th, 2015 at 10:42 am
Similar to why I’ve been a bit absent of late. Only so much time, and want to craft the best work I can. It will all pay off in the end. Go, Kate!!
And I love the cartoon.
January 29th, 2015 at 2:55 pm
Reblogged this on Sparrowcat Press and commented:
For anyone who missed this over on my blog, here’s the update I posted January 9, after edits came back. Things have gone well since then. But since people have asked…