Edits, Hold the Prozac

I don’t know if anyone has noticed my absence these last two weeks [I’m going to cling to a mildly narcissistic hope that someone has while admitting to the pessimistic realization that it’s most unlikely] but I was busy editing my upcoming release from Crimson Romance and I was on deadline. The revisions are complete and submitted, on time. And I can return to the blogosphere, albeit a little weary and a lot wiser.

What did I learn? You may ask.

Well, even if you’re not asking, I’m going to tell you.

I learned a few things. But the most important lesson I’ve taken with me is this:

DO NOT BECOME EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED TO YOUR STORY

That may be too general a statement. Of course you want to be attached to your story but in this instance I lived with this story and these characters for years before finally generating enough courage to submit.  And by that time I was so entrenched in their universe, their conflict, their ethos that the changes requested by the publisher were difficult for me to make.

Here I was with a manuscript I spent years coddling, and I had two weeks to recreate the second half in a fashion that aligned with my publisher’s needs. And I felt very strongly that whatever I wrote held true to my two main characters. I ate, slept, breathed, and lived edits for ten straight days. I ignored my family and when I wasn’t ignoring them I was biting their heads off or asking them endless questions: “Read this.” “What do you think about that?” I got it done. And I did what I set out to do. I made the changes I was asked to make, stayed within the parameters that were set and I believe I stayed true to Maggie and Aidan as I know them. And I know them as well as I know myself.

Going forward I will try my best not to become as attached to what I’ve written, so that when it comes time to slice ‘n dice, I can but without the Prozac.