I know, that seems to be a little contradictory for me to put in as a subject. In this case though, it’s true. The fact I had today off was likely the only reason it was as productive as it was.

I received the first round of edit’s last evening from my publisher so I was working on those today. Happily I can announce that I even got through them all, and returned them to prep from round two. I have to shout out to my editor, Laurie Temple, again. The woman is awesome! Hell, the woman should be up for Sainthood for dealing with some of the weirdness I’ve cooked up. The fact that I have the same editor through the entire series is a huge plus. She’s read the previous books (obviously), dissected them, and helped me to bring the best I could to the readers. She knows these books pretty much as well as I do, which in the editing process is a big thing. She knows when to point out a good spot to mention some important point of a previous book, especially when I’ve mentioned a character from one of them.

That and she beats back my comma addiction to a reasonable number – though I did notice that the second half had fewer corrections than the first. A first for me, but I was writing book 3 when we were editing book one, so obviously some of what she’d told me at that time of editing book 1 sank in a bit, and carried into book 3. Not a lot – obviously, but some. So that’s a plus, maybe I’m actually starting to learn this stuff! LOL!

It’s actually a good thing, seeing some progress where she’s not having to smack my knuckles so much now. Hopefully I can keep up with that. I know the other thing I’m dedicatedly trying to work on is over using dialogue tags. ie: he said. she said. he told her. she whispered. That stuff. It’s a little harder to do during the writing process, so I don’t really worry about it. But before I submit I’m in there inspecting each and every single dialogue tag and making the hard call on whether it’s actually needed or not. Something else I noticed she didn’t need to do so much hacking on during the second half of book 3. Though I can honestly say I wasn’t actively watching for that so much until book 4. I might have naturally let up though, but I honestly don’t remember one way or the other.

I suppose it doesn’t matter. It appears on some level that I’m starting to “get” where she’s coming from on some of her points of note in the edits I get from her. Either way, it seems to be working. The fact she’s a perfect angel to work with is also a plus. I was truly nervous during the first book I did, my standalone, since I’d heard both good stories, and some horror stories about editors. Having several friends that are authors prior to this likely wasn’t a good thing for my poor nerves.

And now that I’ve rambled myself around…to where, I’m not entirely sure. LOL! Which would be my cue to go, and do up some dinner. Chicken’s been marinating all day, so that should be spectacular. Hope you all have a lovely evening, and a fantastic week ~ Moira