by Jennifer Chastain, @JenniferCwrites
The deadline for your first (or last) round of edits is looming and the task seems insurmountable. Your editor has made copious notes and it looks like she bled all over your beloved story. *Sigh*.
Your editor has given you a date and you realize you have thirty days to finish. Panic sets in and you’re thinking, “I can’t finish all these edits in that short time frame!”
Sound familiar?
I just finished edits for Book 2 in my romantic suspense series, Lethal Pursuit. To be honest, after I received my edits, for the first week, I was a big ball of stress. The task seemed insurmountable. After several deep breaths, I sat back down at my desk and devised an action plan.
Here are a few suggestions that helped me meet my deadline:
- Take a step back. I did this for a couple of days. But don’t let time get away from you. Set a definite date when you will begin. Don’t stress and don’t let the amount of editing discourage you. We’ve all been there.
- Take a deep breath and if you are a praying person, pray. I can’t emphasize praying over your edits and your manuscript enough.
- Read through the edits first. Know what your editor wants and make notes. I use a spiral notebook and list the major items and what page they were on. Also, if there is a discrepancy, like my hero has blue eyes in one chapter and gray eyes in another (not sure how that happened!) I make a note and use the “find all” and “replace” function once I go back through my character notes to make sure I have his physical characteristics correct.
- Set achievable goals. This helped me the most since my editing deadline was thirty days. I divided the number of pages of the manuscript by the number of days. Before I set this goal, I had already edited over 80 pages. So, once I set my goal, all I had to edit was seven pages per day if I worked on the manuscript every day. In my case, this was a game changer. I work a full-time job and I write at night and on the weekends. Seven pages is a small number and was doable. There were several days where I was too exhausted from work or other responsibilities and didn’t edit. On the days I had more energy, I edited more pages.
- If you’re stuck, keep moving forward. Don’t let one or two sentences bog you down. Many times, I’ve returned to a passage later. Your mind will work out the details when you least expect it.
- Find a person or group who can be your personal cheerleaders and/or prayer support. Many days, I felt as if I couldn’t do this, but we all need that extra bit of encouragement as we travel this road to publication.
These are some strategies that helped me, and I hope will help you, too, navigate your writing world.
You can find Jennifer at https://linktr.ee/jenniferchastain
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Book 2 in her romantic suspense series, Targeted for Elimination: Lethal Pursuit, releases on October 10, 2023
He’s a man on the run.
Undercover ATF agent Jack Spencer has been running away his entire life. His last assignment has him questioning who he really is, what he believes, and who he can trust. When his cover is compromised, and he’s injured, he must disappear in order to survive.
She wants a fresh start.
After five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, ex-Army medic Maggie Coleman wants a quiet life, one without emotional trauma. The peace and serenity of the Hawai’ian Islands is just what the doctor ordered. Then Jack crashes into her life, taking her on a rollercoaster ride into the unknown.
Now, they’re running for their lives.
Maggie and Jack flee the Islands only to find their every move is anticipated. As the days wear on, they form a bond that transcends their situation, and they must learn to depend not only on each other, but God as well. When they finally reach the safe house in the mountains of Montana, Jack and Maggie hunker down and wait for reinforcements. Before help arrives, Maggie is kidnapped, and Jack has only one option—offer himself in exchange. Failure is not an option. Because if he does, they both stand to lose more than just their budding relationship.
Ever since she was a little girl, living in her small town in New York State, Jennifer Chastain has always been a voracious reader. As a teen, she dreamed of embarking on epic adventures and exploring the world, just like all the characters in her favorite books. Instead, she writes suspense-filled romantic adventures, full of faith. A northern transplant, she has grown to love the grace and charm of the South. In fact, she even married a native Charlottean. Jennifer is a member of ACFW, ACFW-NC, and Novel Academy. Several of her other stories were finalists in the Blue Ridge Mountains Foundations contest and she was a finalist in the Touched by Love contest, sponsored by the Faith, Hope, and Love Christian Writers. Her contemporary romance stories contain themes of redemption, grace, and forgiveness. A hopeful romantic, Jennifer loves dark chocolate, Diet Coke, and good romantic movies. She and her husband have been married for over 25 years and they are permitted to co-exist with their black rescue cat. Find her at: https://linktr.ee/jenniferchastain