Red ink

This blog has been pretty quiet this month, not just because of the holidays, but also because I got my editorial letter for Fallen World book 3 at the very beginning of December. So I have been hard at work over the last few weeks, revising the book into the best possible trilogy end I can make it. And since I just finished up (this round — there’s another to come) today, I thought I’d share a little of the process.

I love computers. They are wonderful devices that make many things possible! And I do almost all of my writing, rewriting, and revising on my laptop. But before I send a new draft to my editor, I always print the manuscript out and go over it with red pen. For some reason it’s harder to miss typos and awkward wording on printed paper than on the screen. And there’s a funny sort of pleasure to crossing out unnecessary lines and noting corrections in red ink.

I don’t go easy on myself. Here are a couple of representative pages — and remember, this is polishing things up after I already finished the main revision:

It’s a rare page that has no red on it at all. My books aren’t perfect, and they will never please everyone (as with any book, really!), but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to get them as close to my idea of perfect as I can before I allow them out into the world.


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