news from my editing cave

I’ve once again been lazy with my blogging, but I assure you I haven’t been lazy in general. I’ve been editing like a mad woman. I told an author friend how exhausted I was after revising three books in a row and she said that editing is so draining, it’s like being hit by a truck. Make it three trucks in my case. I’m not complaining though. Well, I’m grumbling about the exhaustion, but not what caused it.

So far, I’ve completed edits of Blogger Girl, Novelista Girl, and A State of Jane. I started How Do You Know? yesterday and Just Friends With Benefits with be last. If my books were days of the work week, it would be Thursday. Thursday morning, but Thursday all the same. I’m over the hump :).

For those of you who have read the books already, Blogger Girl and Novelista Girl are still the same novels post-edit as they were pre-edit but with more drama and development. Much of the drama revolves around antagonist Daneen and much of the development centers around Kim’s relationship with Nicholas. If you were fans of the series before, I’m positive you’ll still love it now. I consider the edits more enhancements than changes.

The modifications to A State of Jane are more significant. I changed A LOT while keeping the general story the same. I won’t spoil anything, but I can tell you that I removed the epilogue, added several new scenes, deleted a few that we didn’t feel moved the story forward, and tweaked almost all of the others. Jane is still “Jane” but a somewhat softer version of the original. I am so proud of the new and improved version and I adore my editor for knowing exactly what my second novel needed to truly make it shine.

As I head back into my editing cave, I keep my eyes focused on the end goal: a full-body massage, a bottle of champagne, a fattening steak dinner, and an expensive hair smoothing treatment, not necessarily in that order (the champagne will be first). Joking aside, I’ve always put my best effort into all steps of writing and marketing my books, but I’ve never been pushed this hard and I’m so grateful for Henery Press for inviting me into the Hen House and helping me turn stories that were very well received in their original conditions into even better versions of themselves. That, my friends, is the real end goal.

4 Comments

  1. Bridget Sampson on September 23, 2016 at 12:01 am

    Oh how I can relate to the pressure and loneliness of the editing cave!!! I’m sending you strength and love, Meredith. Your work is so great that I can only imagine the nuanced fine-tuning that your editing entails! I am always a fan, so please feel free to send me anything you need an extra set of eyes to pass over, seriously! And we truly are sisters because I want pretty much all the same things when I come out of the cave… with champagne being the top priority for sure!!! xoxoxo

    • meredithgschorr on September 23, 2016 at 10:23 am

      Thank you so much Bridget. I probably won’t have time to take you up on your generous offer for an extra set of eyes for these books, but I might call on you for my new one…

      I’m so sorry we couldn’t connect earlier this week. Definitely next time!

  2. Amy on October 1, 2016 at 10:20 am

    It will be well worth it! Keep up the great work. Sounds like you’ve got a wonderful publisher. Thinking of you in the cave.

    • meredithgschorr on October 2, 2016 at 12:45 pm

      Thank you, Amy! My expectations are high 🙂

Leave a Comment