I’ve looked at and reread the romance I’m writing a billion times. Well, not a billion, but enough times that I’m practically cross-eyed. I’d sent it off to my friend, Rachel Carrera so she could give it a once over and then design the cover and get it ready for publishing, but then I got cold feet, and asked her to delete the file. I wanted other eyes on it before we took that step.
Now, I’m conflicted. At the suggestion of several beta readers I’ve made some necessary changes (like taking out any mention of stairs in a ranch-style home) and making sure my characters’ names stay the same throughout the book (near the middle of the book one character took on the name of a character in my first novel). But some other suggested changes are tough to undertake, partly because I’m fond of the story as is, even though it’s not perfect.
Writing is fun. Editing is hard. I’m ready for a glass of wine.
Peace, people.

Put it away for a few days and go back to it, that normally works. Otherwise, download Grammerly. O love the editing part, although o find mys of staring aimlessly after a while. When I wrote my dissertation, I edited it over 8 times, I still found an error the day before I printed it. Keep at it, one day at a time
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Good advice. With my first book, we had some wild formatting issues that we only noticed after it was published. I about had a heart attack and stayed up all night trying to fix it—and it’s still not perfect; although, none of those issues had anything to do with plot or characters. Now I’m dealing with a question of my protagonist’s motivation. It’s going to be interesting to see how/if I can make the changes without altering how I feel about the story.
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Good luck x
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Thank you!
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You hit the nail on the head with that… ‘writing is fun, editing is hard’. It does help to take a break from it and view it with fresh eyes! It’s so amazing you reached this stage though, you aced it 😀
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Thanks! I’m so stoked that I’ve published one book and am close to publishing a second one.
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it’s honestly an incredible feat. I wish you all the good in the world for it 🙂
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Thank you!
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Put it away for a bit…not too long. Open the wine. Then step back and reread. Open the wine. Ask your gut what it thinks. Not about the wine. About the story. Calmly. Dispassionately. Ask yourself the hard questions about what these readers are saying. If your gut tells you to believe them, then okay. But equally if it says… okay but beef it a bit… okay. If it says, no. Then remember this is your story.
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I love you. Thanks.
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You can email me any time Leslie, remember that x
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Thank you. I might need to do that.
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It is not a prob okay. I ahve read this story and just send me the suggestions that are being made okay? I do have editing experience and I will look at it that that hat on.
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I just sent it to you. I think. 😉
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I’ve gotcha x
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enjoy the wine and good health in 2021
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Thanks!
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all the good thoughts add up, amen
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Shehanne has nailed it
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She does that a lot.
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🙂
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