I'm racing to meet a July 25 deadline for my fourth Love Inspired Historical, Her Motherhood Wish, which will be released in March 2017.
Until a couple of days ago, the manuscript was a mess. I have a hunch some of my fellow authors can relate.I handed that messy first draft to my bright, beautiful daughter, who proofreads for another author, too, and is a line and copy editing whiz.
When Adriana completed her editing pass, I was reminded of a recent "catastrophe" she experienced when she accidentally flung cat food all over the bathroom floor--and counter, too. She had lots of little pellets to pick up; I had lots of little oopsies to address.
Adri returned the story full of notes telling me (nicely) about the many niggling ways I'd muffed up. Things like the heroine being blindfolded by the bad guy but not bound. Can you say oops? I'd made poor Callie look pretty clueless, since she could have just reached up and removed the bandana blocking her vision. Not to worry. That mistake has been corrected.
I'm happy to report that I've cleaned up the manuscript. There are only a few fixes left for me to make. I'm on track to hit "send" Monday. A huge sigh of relief will follow.
Questions for You
Think back to a time when your plate was overfull or your life got a bit messy. How do you handle such times? What works well for you when you're feeling overwhelmed? This fuzzy-brained, deadline-pressured writer welcomes your wisdom.
