Today, I finished my manuscript, a middle grade adventure. Hurray! A load off my mind.
The final tweaks and refinements are always the hardest. It demands ruthlessness in killing your darlings and a scrupulous attention to detail. I’m good at killing my darlings, but the scrupulous attention to detail isn’t my forte if it concerns my own work. I don’t see the mistakes and typos as I do when I’m editing someone else’s work. I read what I think I wrote and I know that — particularly in those passages that are packed with action (and usually written at the same speed) — my mind outruns my typing. Thankfully, we have editors. Writers rely on editors. They are one of the most essential links in the publishing chain.
But the hardest part of finishing a manuscript is hitting the send button. I always hesitate, have to force myself to let go of the manuscript, place it in the hands of others. It feels like that moment dangling in mid-air when you are not sure yet where and how you will land. How appropriate was it that my son published a photo of himself in mid-air at the exact time that I hit that send button.
Isn’t life full of sweet coincidences?
Tagged: coincidence, editor, kill your darlings, manuscript, middle grade, tweaking, writing
Congratulation! Yes, I hate killing my darlings- especially when the designer chooses what I think is the ‘worst’ photo of 4 I send her. I feel so sorry for the ones that will never get published. I should create a salon des refuses for the images that never quite make it…
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Thank you, Siobhan!
Salon de Refuses, that is actually an interesting idea for a Salon meeting, a get-together where we all bring our projects that were rejected but that we love dearly.
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Oh yes, I know that send button phobia only too well, Mina!
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No matter how many manuscripts we turn in, it never gets easier, eh?
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I keep a cemetery full of my ruthless acts, just in case I need to dig one up. Good for you Mina!
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It’s a liberating feeling, Donna! And yes, I have a patch in my virtual backyard too, because killing them darlings is one thing, saying goodbye forever is another.
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Well put Mina…very well put! And congratulations on the ‘send-off’…another ship sets sail for success!
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