by Andrea Christenson, @andrea143
A few years after we were married my husband began a weight loss journey. He’d found himself having a hard time playing on the floor with our, then, toddler. He began a program of radical calorie counting. A system which worked well for him because he could still enjoy everything he loved, but in much smaller portions. His hard work paid off and in just a few months he lost a little over eighty pounds.
He looked completely different.
Something strange happened to me during that time. I found myself ambivalent toward him, sometimes even a bit hostile. This wasn’t due to any sort of jealousy or even lack of support on my part, but for an even more shallow reason: he didn’t look like the person I’d married.
I needed to fall in love with my husband again.
I’d never stopped loving him, but the butterfly feelings I’d associated with the man I married just weren’t there. I couldn’t get used to seeing his “new” face.
When I realized this, something changed in my heart.
I began looking for the things about him that were the same. He still had the same humor, the same love for God and for people. He still gently cared for me and provided for our family. He still had the same eyes and the same smile.
At his heart he was still the man I fell in love with, just in a new shape.
I thought of that journey a few weeks ago as I flipped through my recent manuscript. As novels often do, it had been through the wringer of edits and re-edits, and then some more edits. Pretty soon it didn’t look anything like the story I’d fallen in love with.
I even complained to my publisher that it didn’t feel like my story anymore.
This was a big problem but the solution ended up being simple. After some gentle sympathy and encouragement, I looked again at my novel. It wasn’t long before I could see that, beneath the changes, my story still remained. In an improved form. The boring bits had been stripped away, the dialogue made more authentic. The storyline was more compelling, and the stakes brought higher.
My manuscript may have changed, but the heart of it remained.
My second novel is now making its way through the long slog of the editing process and as it does I am reminding myself of three things.
1. My editor(s) have my best interest in mind. They want the story to succeed as much as I do. A good editor is a writer’s best friend. From spotting math errors to culling cliches, an editor is there to make the writer look good.
2. Changes to the manuscript don’t always mean changes to the heart of the story. In my case, the changes meant a stronger theme, and a better resolution to the core issues.
3. I am writing for God’s glory. I want my novel to be the best it can be in order to faithfully share God’s love with my readers.
Hopefully, this time around my novel’s transformation will be a source of joy right from the first struck-through cliche!
How do you embrace the editing process?
She’s not looking for love… Housekeeper-slash-entrepreneur Ella Bradley prides herself on being ready for anything. After all, with a father who died—and lied to her—and a stepmom and stepsister who despise her, she has no one else to depend on. But on the biggest night of her life, she’s unprepared to be trapped in an elevator with the man of her dreams.
He doesn’t mean to lie… Wealthy prince-to-a-fortune Adrian Vassos wants nothing more than to shed his reputation as a party boy and prove that he is a savvy businessman. Even, a gentleman. But when he’s trapped with a woman who knows his reputation but not his face, he gives into the temptation to be someone else—and lies.
When serendipity brings them together again—this time to work off community service—can their combined sentences spark a new ending? Maybe…if Adrian’s lies don’t find him out. Again.
Andrea Christenson lives in Minnesota with her husband and two daughters. When she is not busy homeschooling her girls, she loves to read anything she can get her hands on, bake bread, eat cheese, and watch Netflix—though not usually all at the same time. You can connect with Andrea on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on her website www.AndreaChristenson.com