Book Writing Part 2: I Hired an Editor and Now the Tough Work Begins

I admit – I now understand the notion that editing a book is harder than actually writing it. I’m not saying that writing my book was easy because there were days when I’d just stare at the laptop screen willing my mind to communicate with my fingers and send good thoughts to the flashing icon on the screen, just begging my hands to type a letter, word, phrase… Overall, I did write a book in 90 days and I was proud of the story I’d told, but then it just sat there in my laptop for another five years before I did anything with it.

Last month I hired a freelance editor on reedsy to help me out with developmental edits of my book. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the process but I knew I was ready for someone else to read it and let me know what was working and be truthful with me about what didn’t make any sense. I reached out to five editors to bid on my job and shared a small passage from my book with them in order to help them understand what to expect from my manuscript. I ended up hiring an editor named Alyssa because she seemed like someone I would work well with – I liked her profile, our messaging conversations were fun and friendly, and her list of books she’d edited included one of the Reese’s Book Club picks so I knew she was the right woman for the job!

As promised from the beginning, it took Alyssa one month to read and edit my novel before returning it to me. She worked on my manuscript by reading it through and providing feedback in the form of comments and light in-line edits via tracked changes on the document itself. She also prepared a full range of notes separately that I reviewed prior to reading through the manuscript edits she’d provided.

Upon getting the notification that my manuscript edits were ready for review, my stomach sank for a moment, nervous that I wasn’t going to like what I read, certain that I was a failure at writing – something that I’ve done so effortlessly my entire life. As with most adversity I encounter, I instantly went into disaster mode and assumed the worst. I didn’t allow myself to get excited about the fact that a professional was going to share with me her opinion of my novel and provide me with feedback in order to tell my story to the best of my ability.

Once I finally built up the courage to read Alyssa’s thoughts on my manuscript, my heart raced, still expecting the worst, but ready to take in anything she had to say. I began by reading the four pages of notes she provided me with that summed up the fact that I’d “crafted an engaging story of trauma, healing, and revenge, that is by turns lighthearted and strikingly sobering.” My heart leapt with joy! It was just the pep talk I needed to get me to dive into reading the rest of the notes and edits she’d provided.

As I flipped through the pages of my manuscript, only stopping to read the editor notes along the way, it became clear I had a lot of work ahead of me. Alyssa was absolutely correct in calling out what needed to be cut or built up. I now have the very heavy task of rewriting much of my original manuscript to completely eliminate an integral character that ultimately wasn’t telling much of a story of her own.

“Kill your darlings,” is a phrase for writers in their editing process and it’s that tough call you have to make in eliminating a character you may have loved writing and spent a tremendous amount of time on, but ultimately, they aren’t pushing the story forward. I knew all along I’d created this type of character from the beginning, but I couldn’t help it, and ultimately, she will have to go and I will need to retell this story a little bit differently. It might take me awhile, but I’m determined to share this story and publish this book.

Check back in for part 3 of this book writing series to see how the edits are coming along…