The editing process has come to sort of a screeching halt. It seems like that, anyway. I guess I didn’t anticipate that this would take so long. I finished the first draft 9 months ago and have been going through the editing process since.
So far, I’ve:
- Had Austin read through the whole thing and do a rough edit to improve the story and fix any typographical errors.
- Had a handful of friends and family read it for their feedback
- Added to the ending a bit and added a few chapters throughout.
- Began the full edit for the final draft.
It’s the final draft edit that seems to be sucking my will to live.
Honestly, the longer this whole process takes, the more discouraged I get and less likely I am to finish this thing. Which is pretty terrible, given the time and money I’ve invested into it. It’s just how I am, though. I lose interest when things take too long to finish.
I’m trying to stick it out, I’m just frustrated with the entire process and myself. I had hoped to be done by my birthday at the end of September. That slipped and I set the expected end date to December 31st, that clearly won’t happen as we’re only about 10% done with the final edits. Hopefully now that my editor’s on break from her teaching schedule, we can plow through the rest of it and be done.
Then all that’s left is the artwork (which I should probably have someone get started on) and publishing.
Then I can finally check off “become a published author” from my bucket list. I’ll likely finish up the second book sometime after that, but I think I’m going to need a break from this whole thing for at least a month or two once this is all done.
Or will I? I haven’t touched My Last Days in nearly 2 months, so perhaps I can just jump right back in there and finish that first draft. I know that one’s going to be kind of a nightmare to edit though, my thoughts have been all over the place and I recognize that I need some major help with that story. I’m about 40,000 words in and I still don’t really know what it’s about. I’ve just been typing and thinking like a madman when I was working on it. Hopefully it’ll come to me and won’t end up being about something that’s been beaten to death.
As the year comes to a close, I am thankful for all that I’ve accomplished. Not just in writing a first (and second) draft of something I’ve had kicking around in my head for the better part of my 20s, but also for other things in my life that I’ve finally gotten done. It’s been a whirlwind year and one that I’m (mostly) proud of. Here’s hoping that 2014 will be as great for you as I anticipate it will for me. Happy New Year!