Ramblings of a YA writer

Wow, that was a more thorough absence than I’d planned. Remember that cold I mentioned at the beginning of December? Well it never totally went away. Actually, long story short, I got sick in November and just this week had a doctor finally say “Okay, here’s some drugs that should kick it.” It got bad. Like almost went to the ER bad.

But, I am back now and things are moving again. (However, I am going to stick with only officially blogging here on Fridays. I’ll link to guest posts I might do as they come up.) First round edits on Pretty Souls have been finished and turned in. I’m getting registered and ready for the Romantic Times Convention out in LA. And somewhere in there, I’m going to do more writing.

I feel awful about taking so long on the edits. The thing is I like editing. Some bits are harder than others, but I know how much stronger the story will be after, so I enjoy all of it. And usually, I’m pretty quick with the turnaround. This time, with the holidays and being sick, I was barely functional and took forever (by my reckoning at least). I hope my editor is happy with the changes (or at least thinks they are a solid framework), because I know most of what she wanted me to do will make the story so much better. (There is this one line she suggested losing that I’m going to fight for since my betas loved it so much, but we’ll see.)

This is the fifth project I’ve worked with an editor on this year, and I’ve come to realize that not everyone likes the process as much as I do. They see it as scary or ruining their story. To me, this is the collaborative part of writing. By the time my book gets into readers’ hands, I can’t make more changes, I can’t fix anything else. While I have fabulously awesome beta-readers, I look at my editor as my “first” reader. She doesn’t (usually) know me. She doesn’t give a rat’s ass about my feelings. What she does care about is the book in her hands. Is it good enough? She’s the only reader who comes to it without preconceived notions about me who gets to tell me how to make it better. Once it leaves her hands? It gets thrown to the wolves (considering it’s a werewolf book, please pardon the pun).

I have to trust my editor. Actually, we have to trust each other. We have to work together to get the absolute best story out there that we can manage. And why would I want any less than that? So, I’ve put the work back in her hands. Here’s hoping the next time I see it, we are making it even stronger.

And I hope when you see it, it rocks.

The PRT deserves nothing less.

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One quick reminder! Tomorrow, Saturday, January 8, at 3 pm eastern time, a group of authors (including yours truly) will be doing a tea-time chat on Twitter. We’d love it if you joined us. Just get on Twitter and follow #authorteachat. Thanks!