Still Revising

A Gift Cross-stitched by My Daughter Jocelyn (many years ago)

The process of getting a manuscript from initial draft to published novel continues to fascinate me. Last night I completed another step on this long road to publication. Today I am celebrating (in a very modest way) that achievement.

For the last month, I have worked with my substantive editor on a second round of revisions. Not just changes in wording or the removal of extraneous details, but the addition of new plot elements and some major scene rewrites. It was a scary process. What if the new draft was weaker than the old? What if my editor was wrong in some of her judgments? I think that my changes improved the novel. They added more tension, connected disparate elements of the plot, improved the pacing, and created greater complexity. But I won’t know for sure that they achieved their goal until I receive the judgment of my readers. And other writers.

This slow process has made me more conscious of my writing. And more critical of it. If all goes well, I will move through the substantive edit of my next novel more quickly. Writing the novel will still be as much work. But I will have made some of the necessary changes much earlier in the production process.

Publication of Grounds for Murder is scheduled for September 24, 2024. The art director has sent me a rough draft of the book cover. The marketing people have written a descriptive blurb for their next catalogue. The copy editor will start work in early January. Everything appears to be proceeding as it should.

I am grateful for all the support I’ve received from friends, family, colleagues, and ECW Press.

Happy holiday season, and may you enjoy peace, good health, and happiness in 2024.