Cutting the Fat

More work on the novel this week. I was going to give it one final read-through. Just gonna make sure that there weren't any glaring errors, pesky typos lurking in the lines. There were. But there was more too. There were sentences that didn't read right. There were still redundancies - too many of them. There were weak areas that needed to be built up some. And so my quick read-through has been going on for days now. But the end is in sight. Only 40 more pages to go. Then I can put down the red pen and move to the computer and input all of the corrections and changes that I've scrawled onto the manuscript. Then - maybe then - it'll be ready to send out to the agents again. Anybody who ever thinks that writing is an easy undertaking has obviously never tried it. But even though it's been difficult, tedious, it's been a good experience for me. I can see now where my weaknesses as a writer lie. I know what to look out for in the future. I also know just how long the editing process takes. I saw a website on editing recently that said something like "Real Writing is Ruthless!" How true that is. You write something down and you think to yourself, "This is really good. I mean, this is all great stuff." Then you start going back over it again with a critical eye, and you see just how not good it really is. Well, not necessarily not good, but not good enough for publication. There are the typos and the redundancies and the over writing and the weak spots that need further development and all of the rest of it. The book that is going to emerge at the end of this entire process will bear only minor resemblance to the first manuscript that I wrote. But that's okay. It's a much better book now than it was then. Now it's a book that people will want to read. Now it's a book that will actually sell. And when I get this one out the door, I'll start the entire process all over again with book number two. That's something to look forward to.