On Editing a Book

Hello, dear reader!

For those of you who don’t know, I finished writing a sci-fi book. I finally figured out the title, which I’ll keep a secret until I’m ready to publish it.

I’m enjoying typing out what I’ve written, and have found that my chapters are much longer than I remember. (No wonder I have only like twenty-seven chapters in my book!)

My main concern is reaching the 80,000 word count for the submission guidelines for DAW, a part of Penguin Books in the USA. I’m thrilled that I’ve found a potential publisher, because I’ve been curious about who would publish my book.

This has been an incredible journey, writing and creating a new world out of thin air. I’ve loved creating the magic system, the aliens who grace an Earth very similar to ours, and creating the bond that Simon and Ian share.

I will definitely miss Simon and Ian, as well as their friends, once I’m all done editing. These characters have been a part of me for little over a year. I started this book last year, switching to handwriting the chapters instead of just typing it. When I type, it comes out differently than if I were handwriting something. Typing something makes me nervous, because I can visually see how many words I’ve written, and then I think of how much I have to create in order to make that word count grow.

When I just hand writing something, I’m not concerned with the word count. I’m not even thinking about that. I write about two to three pages almost every day, taking several days off in between sometimes.

The day I’d said I was going to finish my book, I actually finished it the next day. I had to take many little breaks, because I needed to expand the story, and yet keep the plot concise enough, so that I would actually reach the last page in my notebook.

I’ve felt a huge sense of accomplishment over actually completing a book. It’s been a lot of years since I’ve had the confidence to write one. My anxiety would shut me down every time, and my depression kept me from the things I loved most, like reading and writing.

I am doing so much better now. With a new medication under my belt, I’m back to feeling like my old self, minus the weight gain. (But I’m working on that.) I have the energy to get up in the morning and be productive. Like writing this blog post.

Writing has been my passion ever since I was a little girl. I would dictate stories to people like my Grandma Lucy, and she would write out my story. Once I learned to type, that was it, I was off to the races.

Thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, liked one my posts, or simply read my posts! This means a lot to me, because it shows that people are interested in what I’ve got to say.

Thanks for reading,
Meghan