Tuesday, March 22, 2005

One round done, the hardcopy to go

I have just finished doin this round of editing. A matter of reading, eliminating scenes, POV and tightening things up.

I am amazed how much of the orginal first draft has gone. Motivations have changed. About all that remains the same is the characters and genral over all plot.

Now comes the proof reading bit -- all to get it ready for the agent.

When I reached the final paragraph, I felt proud and had a tear in my eye. Finally I think I have done some sort of justice to this story.

Undoubtably there will still be things to change. i think I have plugged all the plot holes and have tied up all the dangling threads. It feels finished in a way, it had not felt before. Is this a good sign? Or memrly a sign of desperate madness?

It is satisfaction of a story well-told I am feeling now. This time next week, I will be prying the mss out of my hands and giving it off to the nice post lady and the nerves will start but for now I can feel well satisfied. In my opinion, I have told a well paced, readable story.

I do feel it is good enough to get published. It is simply a matter of finding an agent and an editor. After that comes the marketing. And so it goes. But at least this is done.

Bring on the proof reading and paper edits!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michelle - Great news that you've finished this round of editing. You have every right to feel proud it's an unputdownable read and deserves to be published.

Sue Child

Julie Cohen said...

Congratulations on finishing your edits, Michelle--and even more congrats on feeling that you have done this story justice.

Good luck with making the agent's coffee go cold!

(I've added you to my links on my blog now--really enjoying reading this.)