I'm back!

*whew*  That was a close one.

 

Today was my deadline for turning in edits on The Lighthorseman and I'm happy to say that I did it.  I almost didn't, however, because my dog ate my homework.

 

No, really.  I'm serious.  The new puppy chewed through the power cord on my laptop and I had to find one I could borrow in order to pull the manuscript out of this little black box and email it to my editor.  Thankfully, I did find one and was able to meet my deadline.  So, like I said . . . "whew".

 

Now that I've been through two rounds of edits, I think I've determined a couple of things about myself.

 

I, have, no, idea, how, to, use, commas.

 

I have serious comma issues.  I put them where they don't belong and I forget to use them when I should.  Most of my edits in both books consisted of moving commas from one part of the sentence to the other. 

 

I also need to utilize my thesaurus more.  Most of the wonderful writers I've met over the past couple of years have stated plainly that we, as a species, have 'trigger' words that stick with us for the length of the manuscript.  These are words that we fall in love with for one reason or another and we keep using them, over and over and over again.  I think I may have taken this to a new level as I've sworn a vow to no longer use about five words in the English language.  Ever.

 

Finally, I want to include a special thanks to my editor in this post.  Without her caustic wit and oh-so-sensible commentary, the book wouldn't be nearly as good.  So, to my editor and all editors, the reader in me thanks you and the writer in me worships you. 

 

That's about it for now.  I'm going to switch gears and get back on the spicy story I was writing before my edits came in.  Hopefully, I can have that wrapped up by the end of the month.  Nanowrimo startes November 1 (November is National Novel Writing Month -- NaNoWriMo) and I want to start Dawn of Redemption and have it done by the end of November.  Wow... 90K words in a month.  Is it possible?  We'll see.  Be sure to check back for updates and I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Hugs,

Marjorie