Back in September, I received the edits back from my editor, Elizabeth Buege (who is fantastic!), for GvM. The semester had started, though, and it took me a bit before I was able to start working on it. Knowing my emotions for this process, I did read over the editor letter right away, so I could let my feelings do their thing. I knew by the time I would get to work on it, I would be able to be far more objective about everything. (But, honestly, there was very little emotional romping this time around. [awkward happy dance])
Starting the last Friday in Oct, I gave myself a goal of twenty-five pages a week, hoping that I’d be able to fit that in around teaching and grading. (I somehow managed to finish two weeks ahead of schedule.)
One of the things I was looking for feedback on was specifically any place I could/needed to expand the story. Coming in at just over 55K (55,178 to be exact; 204 pages) when I handed it over, I knew the manuscript was on the short end of the range for the genre (YA low sci-fi/fantasy). I didn’t count every single word changed, but whenever I opted to delete a large section, I copied it into another doc (just in case) – which ended up totaling 5,892 words. By the end, the manuscript totaled 60,369 words, meaning 11,083 new words created in revision. *wipes sweat off forehead*
In other, well, words, there were some major overhauls to sections of the story, and I’m left with something I’m really excited about, and it’s a much better story for it. There is still work to do, of course. I’m letting it sit for a month, then I’ll tackle another round of edits before typesetting.
This will be the third time I’ve gone through this with a manuscript (though the first one is with a publisher, so it’s a bit different), and I’m feeling good about the process I’ve created. Would be curious to hear about what your process is like. 🙂
Ami Maxine 