Round One Edits Complete!

Round One Edits

I came home from the beach on Sunday 7/26 and found my first round of edits waiting in my email box. Of course, I was terrified. I had no idea how bad it was going to be or the magnitude of the changes my editor was going to request. But, as it turned out, it wasn't that bad.

I started making the changes Sunday night and worked on them again Monday night after my day job and then again tonight when I got off work. And I completed the task by 10:30 Tuesday and sent the revisions back to Lill.

The biggest change I had to make was reworking my explanation on a vampires ability to travel at such high rates of speed. I had gone into great detail using Einstein's theory of relativity and 4th dimensional travel that my editor thought too weighty and technical. In short, she didn't think it added anything to the story. So, I used the KISS method of explaining. Keep it simple stupid. Basically, I just kept it as simple as possible and limited my explanation and details. I'm anxious to hear what Lill thinks of the changes.

I also had to reduce some of my scientific detail and change a few other minor things, and there were some POV switches that Lill fixed and some spelling problems, but overall, there weren't as many problems as I expected. Especially considering the number of "red" marks I get on a single chapter whenever I have my critique partner, Amy Corwin, look at something.

But I guess all those red marks I got from my critique partners on this book, Amy Corwin and Jenna Black paid off. Thanks Amy and Jenna!http://www.jennablack.comhttp://www.amycorwin.com

Count down begins?

Just got an email from my editor, Lill. And if all goes as expected, I should get my edits tomorrow. Then, the editing process begins!

I'm not sure what to expect. I'm not even sure how extensive the edits are or what she wants changed, but I'm looking forward to moving forward and getting something accomplished.

I just hope I can do the job she expects and that the manuscript will be better after the changes are made. I'm so looking forward to holding my first, printed book in my hands. Maybe then, it'll start to feel real.

The Waiting

I feel as if I'm in limbo.

I am working on a sequel to Out of the Darkness. This will be Tina's story and I'm calling it Into the Light. But it's hard to get the creative juices flowing when I'm not sure how some of the editorial changes my editor is going to want for OTD will affect ITL.

Minor changes won't affect how I write the second story, but if she suggests something major, like, lets say a name change, then that could be a problem. Of course, I can always do edit, select all, and change, but I'd rather not do that if I don't have to. Technology isn't always my friend and I've made changes like that before only to proofread later and find weird text changes, despite selecting "whole word only" and "match case."

So, those kinds of edits are things I'd rather avoid if I can. But I am writing. I'm just slow. Then again, I've never been the world's fastest writer. Life and my "real" job have a tendency to get in the way of my fun job. And writing is fun. I love it when everything clicks and I know exactly what comes next. It's when I don't know what's coming next that I hate. And that usually happens in the middle. And I hate the middle. That dreaded sagging middle.

One thing I have learned about myself as a writer is that I don't mind edits. In fact, I sometimes think I'd rather edit than create. Once I finish a book, I sometimes edit it to death because I can always find some way to make it better. I think I'm anal that way.

I once opened a fortune cookie and it said, "Be satisfied with one chapter at a time."

I taped it to the base of my monitor and have taken the advice to heart. I think maybe that's one reason I write so slowly. I try to perfect each chapter before moving on and then I just get bogged down. And then, once I finish a manuscript, I still want to edit it to death. So, that's one reason I don't think I'll have a problem making line edits. I think what's going to drive me bonkers is seeing mistakes I didn't catch myself after the thousands of times I proofread it!

So, for me right now, the biggest problem I'm having with my writing career is waiting.

I can't say it's easy.

Out of the Darkness

The Blurb:

Her research could cure his dark hunger if a covert government agent doesn’t get to her first.

Vincent Maxwell is a vampire with a conscience searching for a cure to his dark hunger. But when a scientist looking to create vampire soldiers captures and kills a fellow vampire, Vincent seeks out Dr. Megan Harper.

While researching xeroderm pigmentosum, a light sensitivity disorder, Dr.Harper discovered a link to vampirism and she could hold a key to a cure and the answers to Gerard’s death. But getting close to the beautiful scientist could endanger both their lives.

When researcher Dr. Megan Harper meets Vincent Maxwell, she believes he suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum, the genetic disease that killed her sister. Sensing a deep loneliness within the handsome man, Megan offers friendship and access to her research files hoping he will offer her a position in his company. But they soon become more than friends and Megan learns the horrifying truth. She's entered the dark and unseen world of vampires and Vincent is her only hope of survival.

The "Email"

After 13 years of writing, I finally got the email on May 10th of this year. And let me tell you, it was the best mother's day gift ever!

Lill Farrell from The Wild Rose Press sent me an email to let me know that my request for contract on my paranormal romance, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, had been accepted for publication!

After so many years of writing, one would think that I would have been thrilled, but I'm holding off on the happy dance because I've been this close to publication before and if fell through. Still, I am very optimistic and smiling widely.

In late 2006 I went through two rounds of revisions for Out of the Darkness (then called something else) with an editor from a well-known New York publisher, but before any contracts were signed, the editor moved to a different line and the editor who took her place requested different changes to the story. By the time I made those changes (which were totally different from the changes requested by the first editor) the second editor "just wasn't in love with the story" and she asked if I could send her something else.

Well, I'm not the world's fastest writer. I have a day job as a radiologic technologist/mammographer that actually pays the bills, so I didn't have anything new to send her. And time passed and I moved on.

Then in 2008, I sent my manuscript to The Wild Rose Press because my critique partner, Regency and mystery writer, Amy Corwin (http://www.amycorwin.com/) had had some success with TWRP and suggested I send my manuscript to them. And so I did. And I waited.

And my luck being what it is, the editor I sent it to at TWRP left. But then I was asked to send manuscript to another editor in November 2008 and I got a positive answer in May, faster than I had ever heard from other publishers. Wow!

I've already signed the contracts and filled out numerous forms: manuscript information sheets, author information sheets, and a marketing form and now I'm just waiting for my first edits to arrive so I can get started making Out of the Darkness into the version that will get published in both e-format and print.

I've also set up a myspace page at www.myspace.com/lillygayle and have contracted agwdesigns at http://www.agwdesigns.com/ to design my web page. When the page is completed, the web address will be http://www.lillygayle.com/, so check that site often to see when it's up and running! I can't wait to see it.

And I can't wait to see my book in print!

Until then, I'll post updates on what happens when a new author finally gets a contract. I really don't know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to learn on the job!

And I'll keep you posted on my progress!