Got my critiques for The Shadow Spy’s Wife on Wednesday, and have been organizing the comments (frame positively, cut the ones I won’t use, organize according to the TOC for specific places to add or modify) and the track changes. It’s been very positive: I’ve received quite a bit of positive feedback, and the changes suggested are all very do-able. So, it’s going well, despite the fact that Christmas is coming (read: not as much time to work).
Gathering of Ghosts is handed in!
Got the novel in to the publisher! I’m happy with the draft–we’ll see what the editor says. Right now I’m hoping to get edits back sometime in January or February.
I’m one of three editors for Life Beyond Us, scheduled to come out from Laksa Media and the European Astrobiological Association in September, and I have 8 stories to look at so far (just got them last week), so that’s next. I’m really looking forward to them; only two came from slush (and I love both of them), but the rest were all by invitation from big names, so I expect the editorial process to be delightful.
Final read-through before submission to my publisher
I wanted to have my novel in to my publisher on Thursday but am still finishing the final read-through. It’s going great (only changing a few words here and there, but they are words that need changing), but I haven’t been able to put in the hours. On Wednesday, a family member was admitted to hospital and it looks like they’re doing surgery soon. But between hospital visits and supporting family, it’s been busy.
On to the final read through!
Finished the revision (that is, the back-and-forthing), so all the notes I took are incorporated (or I’ve decided not to use some, as the case might be) and I began the final read-through. It’s been going well! I’ve found a couple of inconsistencies and a few places where I wanted to smooth out the wording, but overall, I think the book is in good shape!
Good week of revision
It was a good week of revision. I finished organizing all the comments and am about halfway through making the edits in the scenes that need them. I like revision. I like seeing how the text improves. Should be done in a couple of days, then one read-through and I send it to my publisher.
The editing client I expected to send me something this week asked for an extension, so it looks like I might have a couple of weeks off, unless I can convince one of my other editing clients to submit early. At this point, January is looking crazy-busy. But this December, between sending Gathering of Ghosts to the publisher and getting The Shadow Spy’s Wife back from beta readers will only be about 2-3 weeks, so not enough time to get my head into another book–though I could possibly write a short story. We’ll see.