I tried to tell the editor if I needed to get the manuscript back before the end of school. I know myself and in the summer time, I just never write. I know I should, but it's so nice out I can't sit still.
Now, a quick defense here. I write three to four hours a day the rest of the year. I always try to get in at least 800 words a day. But I usually get more like 1500 to 2000. Writing is just what I do, but I do get burned out after awhile and summer is my way recharging my batteries. That being said, I didn't get my manuscript in time. I went into summer mode and only just sent it back to her last week! Big fail on my part. Not all my fault because Massachusetts in it's infinite wisdom changed my entire curriculum this year and I've been working like a dog trying to get my head above water at work.
But I think the whole thing was worth it.
The story is tighter. I started the novel in a logical place, the beginning. But the story really didn't get rolling until about halfway through. So my editor told me to cut out 30 percent of the beginning. Which was just a very tough thing for me to imagine. So much so that I'll be honest, I couldn't wrap my brain around it. Till I had the idea that I could start in the middle and then work in the beginning chapters into the tale using flashbacks and dream sequences. The story is much more dynamic now, I think. I remember I went to a conference once where a literary agent mentioned that the best place to start a story is not always at the beginning, I think I understand that now. How we tell a story is just as important as the story itself.
Good lesson.
But I will say, it was really tough to rework it. The original novel was all first person present. So all the flashbacks had to be rewritten into first person past tense. A royal pain in the you know what! But hey, it's done. If no one wants to publish it, who cares! I did it. I've now completed two novels in my life.
Can you beat that?
