Red Ink

My manuscript was set to come in on President's Day. I randomly checked my email over the weekend JUST incase it came earlier than that. Nothing came of that. I began feeling exhausted Saturday evening which turned into a full Sunday of laying around and napping. I ignored my phone most of the day. When I woke up Monday morning, Presidents Day, I checked my emails.

There it was. My edited manuscript and it had arrived Sunday afternoon. WOW!

It was awesome how prompt the process has been so far and helped me feel confident in whom I have hired. I quickly glanced the marked up version and saw lots of red ink. I didn't feel foolish or embarrassed by all the corrections. I felt content. It reaffirmed the decision to definitely have an editor for my work. I am decent at writing, I love storytelling and I enjoy expressing myself with words. I am also very aware of my lack of English writing skills since departing from high school.

I rolled over and continued to rest for a couple more hours. Once I woke up, I shared the news with a few of my girlfriends. Two of them are super passionate about what this process has to bring. Nikki has been one of my biggest cheerleaders and Jai is a writer herself. Jai has actually been writing longer than I have and goes to Open Mic events to read her poetry. She is building a community for writers and I'd love for those of you to go follow it - Speak Your Piece.

It made me emotional to realize this was actually happening. This wasn't a dream or something I was slowly sitting on - I dove into something and it is happening.

I read over the clean edited copy on my phone and felt it sounded great. I don't feel pulled to edit the story anymore. I feel the illustrations will bring the story further into reality. I decided I need to be fully sure of how the story sounded. I sat at my computer and read everything aloud to myself. And, I mean everything! The synopsis, the about the author, the about the book, the story itself and even the dedications.

It sounded cute and just right!

I think the confidence level will increase more once my publisher and I talk this week. I have until Thursday to submit my revisions or approval.

EEKKK!!!!!!!!!!