Facing my fear…editing.

So, I’ve written two and a half books. Considering I started about a dozen before I got around to finishing the first one, I’m pretty pleased with that number. The first book was what I call ‘a throw away book.’ By this I mean, it wasn’t any great story that I had been thinking about for years or my soul’s blood pouring out on the computer screen. No. In 2008, I decided to participate in Nanowrimo and wasn’t sure of my ability to complete it and therefore didn’t want to risk any of my precious novel beginnings on something that might go down in grammatical wreckage. Instead I pulled an idea from my document where I dump such things to keep the brain’s desktop clear for the current project. I had already lost a day of writing time before I decided to jump on the nanowrimo novel train, so didn’t have time to be picky. It was an immature story idea produced by an immature mind that spent too much time in night clubs and watching action flicks where everyone looked too cool to be real. Fortunately, I had grown up enough to recognize the flaw and made the story mature by immaturing the characters from hardened adventurers to kids scrabbling for survival at the edge of their society.

And I was off. I fought tooth and nail to get those 50K words in one month. When it was over, I felt such a sense of accomplishment. I could write book! I had written a book. Even better, I kept going and finished the last 10K to get to the end of the story after the race of nanowrimo was over. But it was a ‘throw away book,’ so I made two people read it and then put it away. Until the next year, when I wrote the first 75K of the sequel. I stalled out there, leaving the second book unfinished, but all the while plotting book three and the happily ever after of my characters. Nanowrimo, that merciless bitch, came again. And I thought, no, I am not going to write in this series anymore. I am going to write something new.

And I did. The first 10K of the book had nothing to do with the previous series, but then somehow, I couldn’t leave that world. This new book, 90K in the end, was a complete story with all the right stuff. Even my writing style had improved to the point where I could hope to sell a book to a real live person instead of guilting friends into reading my books. But how could I hope to sell a book that was the fourth in a series without the first three? I pulled out book one and it was awful. Ok, that is a little harsh. It was like walking into a house you are contemplating buying and being slapped in the face by bright pink carpet and royal sugar plum purple walls. When house shopping, you have to learn to look past the cosmetic and look at the bones of the house. So with my Book 1. If Book 4 were to ever have a chance, I would have to take a close look at my fixer upper. That is how I came to embark on this editing journey that has been my goal since Dec 2011 and actual work since Feb 2012. Book 1 of the series has good bones, but now was the time to bring in the sledge hammer and the paint buckets and give it a remodel.

Also, I have known for a long time that I would someday have to edit the novels I was writing. Oh, how I dreaded the editing process. So, in the end I decided what better way to learn this new skill than on my ‘throw away novel.’ No pressure. I mean, it was still a ‘throw away novel,’ wasn’t it?