By Cara Putman, @cara_putman

I’m going to be very vulnerable with this blog post.

I have macro edits staring me in the face, and I can’t get started. 

I have a mental barrier that I am struggling to get over. Much of it comes from things external to writing, but I have got to buckle down and get these edits done and done well. Maybe you’ve experienced the same thing. 

Macro edits are a key part of the writing process. It’s a step in the process that we writers either love or hate. I don’t know anyone who feels meh about this part of writing. If you aren’t familiar with the term, it’s usually the first major edit with an outside editor and is the time that you begin to address the larger issues in the book. It’s the time in the writing process where you dig into what’s working and what might not be with a book. It can be daunting, overwhelming, and hard to know where to start. 

That’s frankly where I am right now.

So what’s a writer to do?

Here are four tips to get started.

1. Pick something easy and start there. It may seem overly simplistic, but it truly is the best way to start. You know what they say: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So how will I start my macro edits? I’ll start with the one piece I do know how to launch and I’ll solve it. With that small piece of momentum, the rest won’t feel as overwhelming.
2. Call and brainstorm with your editor. Most are more than happy to do this with you. Often it’s the piece I need to get my energy and passion back. In fact, I’m going to pause right now and shoot my editor and email scheduling a call for next week. The larger issue is solvable, but I need a bit of energy to know I can get it layered in. Brainstorming with the editor can be a great way to do that. After all, a romantic suspense novel needs…suspense. Okay, email sent. On to the next idea.
3. Try to remember why you loved these characters or story. The macro edit is the most work of the process to me. Copy edits and proofing are straightforward, but macro edits are where I have to deal with characters that aren’t working. Plots that drag. Motivations that are off. Etc. It’s work. One thing that can help is to dig into why this was a book I wanted to tell. For this book, I love that I’m tying my passion for WWII and art to a legal suspense. I may be struggling to realistically layer in the suspense, but I love the guts of the story. So much! Tapping into that will help power me through the draining work parts. 
4. Celebrate the progress you make. Getting started is hard. So celebrate that. Then tackle the next challenge and celebrate it, too. Before long you will have crossed the finish line and be one step closer to holding your finished book in your hands.

What strategies do you use to start your macro edits so you can successfully cross the finish line?

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Lethal Intent

If they expected silence, they hired the wrong woman.

Caroline Bragg’s life has never been better. She and Brandon Lancaster are taking their relationship to the next level, and she has a new dream job as legal counsel for Praecursoria—a research lab that is making waves with its cutting-edge genetic therapies. The company’s leukemia treatments even promise to save desperately sick kids—kids like eleven-year-old Bethany, a critically ill foster child at Brandon’s foster home.

When Caroline’s enthusiastic boss wants to enroll Bethany in experimental trials prematurely, Caroline objects, putting her at odds with her colleagues. They claim the only goal at Praecursoria is to save lives. But does someone have another agenda?

Brandon faces his own crisis. As laws governing foster homes shift, he’s on the brink of losing the group home he’s worked so hard to build. When Caroline learns he’s a Praecursoria investor, it becomes legally impossible to confide in him. Will the secrets she keeps become a wedge that separates them forever? And can she save Bethany from the very treatments designed to heal her?

This latest romantic legal thriller by bestseller Cara Putman shines a light on the shadowy world of scientific secrets and corporate vendettas—and the ethical dilemmas that plague the place where science and commerce meet.

“Intriguing characters. Romantic tension. Edge-of-your-seat suspense. And a fast-paced ending that will leave you exhausted (in a good way!).” —Robert Whitlow, award-winning author of Promised Land

Cara Putman

Since the time she could read Nancy Drew, Cara has wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 she attended a book signing at her local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, was history. There she met a fellow Indiana writer Colleen Coble. With prompting from her husband, Cara shared her dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, Cara’s been writing award-winning books. She is currently marketing book 36 and dreaming up future books, not hard when she sees what-ifs everywhere.
Cara Putman is an active member of ACFW and gives back to the writing community through her service on Executive Board. She has also been the Indiana ACFW chapter president and served as the Area Coordinator for Indiana.

Cara is also an attorney, full-time lecturer at a Big Ten university, and all-around crazy woman. Crazy about God, her husband and her kids that is. She graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!), George Mason Law School, and Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management. You can learn more about Cara at www.caraputman.com.
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