I finished MURDER ON MUSIC ROW about a year ago. I’ve spent the last year editing, polishing, loving, hating, ignoring, then finally deciding to move forward with the novel. I took a six-week Revisions class in January and February where I tore my manuscript apart scene by scene and then put it back together. It was kind of a Humpty Dumpty exercise only the ms went back together again better than ever.
All of that’s been done as well as my paper edit. I’ve gone through and made the corrections I caught, though it was extremely difficult to catch my own errors. I know what it is supposed to say so I read it that way whether it says it or not. I have my beta readers lined up–a hair stylist, an attorney, a cop, a singer … all characters in my book plus a couple of writers whose opinions I value. (Drum roll please) they’ll have their beta copy next week.
In the meantime, my critique group will continue to work with me chapter by chapter so who knows what will change. They see big picture things like Nan, Kat, Lor, Amy — all three letter names, could be confusing for the reader. Kat will now be using her first name, Emma, and we won’t shorten Loralee’s name. Emma (Kat) can tell you about how her name change came about when she next blogs which will be next week, by the way.
The characters are off restriction sabbatical and ready to blog again, with supervision of course. It’s been a while and they’re anxious to tell you what they’ve been up to while they’ve been away.
Until next week, have a safe and happy weekend.
~Kay
