9,822 times
That’s how many times I’ve read my manuscript now, as I’ve been editing it and editing it every single day and night (I’m not kidding) for weeks and weeks now. I was even working on election night, and had to listen to the TV in the next room for all my updates. I did take time off for the acceptance speech, because I’m not made of stone, people.
So anyway, I’m happy to report that I finally turned it in at 2:30 in the morning a few days ago, and it’s been accepted! Yee-haw! Which means I now have about three weeks off until the copy edits come back.
Because here’s the sequence: You write a book. You love it to pieces. Love, love, love it–couldn’t be better. Then your editor reads it and says, “Hey, this is great! But if you could just make a few changes . . .”
And then you pout for a while, because you realize you can’t out-source this work, and no one is going to do it but you, and then you finally suck it up and go back in there and start fiddling around. And then you CAN’T STOP. Because it turns out there are so many more things you’d like to do with the book now that you have the chance, and you end up adding about 20% more because it’s just so much fun! You love these characters! Look what else they can do and say! And then because you wrote so much new material, your editor has to look at that now and say, “Hey, this is great! Now if you could just make a few changes . . .”
Then you go through the pouting a little more, then the sucking-of-it-up, and days and nights go by, and you stop doing laundry or buying groceries or having phone conversations longer than 5 minutes (“Okay, that my allotted break time,” you get used to telling people, “Gotta go.” And they let you go because you obviously weren’t paying attention to the conversation anyway.)
And then one night you think, “I can’t take this anymore! I just want to push through to the end and get it done! And so you watch your normal bedtime of 9:00 pass by, and then it’s midnight, and then inexplicably it’s 2:30 and you’re finally e-mailing the manuscript to New York. And by the time you wake up and have some coffee and a dog walk and come back and check your e-mail, it’s been accepted! And perhaps you’re so brain-addled you actually call your editor and ask her to please repeat that over the phone because you’re not sure if it’s real.
So now I’m on break. Hurray! For the last two days I’ve been sleeping, cleaning, reading a huge stack of accumulated newspapers, sleeping some more, cooking actual food, and having real conversations with people I think I know.
But that will end soon. Because right now the manuscript is being thoroughly read and marked up by an independent copy editor who will have all sorts of things to say about my comma placement and some of my weird phrasing and other nit-picky things that we writers are always grateful someone is looking out for, if only to prevent snarky e-mails from readers saying, “Did you know on page 22 his eyes are chocolate brown, but on page 94 they’re dark brown? Which is it?” Um, dark brown. I decided.
So I’ll get the marked-up copy back pretty soon, and then I’ll have to say whether or not I agree with those corrections, and then the manuscript will go off to be officially corrected and printed. And THEN (because it always takes much longer to produce a book than I at least I ever knew), I’ll have one last shot at catching any problems when I look at the galley proofs. But those galley proofs–without the final, final corrections–are what get bound into Advanced Reader Copies that reviewers and other early readers get to see, so there’s always the potential that someone is going to read the book in its less than perfect form. Many, many steps.
Meanwhile, that romance novel I was working on had to get shelved again. I only had about three weeks with it before I had to get back to editing this one. And now I’m thinking I’d rather get on to my next YA when I’m done with the copy edits of this one, so I’m afraid the romance will once again have to wait until I feel like I’ve got a lot of extra time on my hands. Whenever that will be.
My description of the editing process is pretty mundane, but let me turn you on to Libba Bray’s rendition of it. It’s SO TRUE and so completely hilarious, you’re all going to wish she were your best friend.
Back to resting and recuperating and watching TV! Top Chef is back on! Woot!
Me, too, sister. I emailed mine Sunday night. Then I read a book this week that wasn’t mine! And went to Target and bought eye shadow (I don’t know why—I just wanted that four-pack of color.) And made cookies. Today, I even wrote a new poem. I had no idea how tired I was until I wasn’t tired anymore.
Until copyedits…
so when can we be expecting the book?
I feel so bad for you, i dont know if i want to be an author anymore, okay yeah i do, that won’t change my mind. But if the editor kept telling me its great but it just needs on little bitty changei would probably through the manuscript at them and tell them to change it themselves. Then i would storm out of the room and before the door even closed i would come back in apologizing and getting the book back.
Wow this is a long comment. But really Robin i feel bad for you, if you ever need anyone to make you feel better i would be happy too.
But more importantly, make them hurry up that book, i want to read it.
Oh, YAY, BFF. I am SO HAPPY FOR YOU! Woot! Enjoy all the bad TV. I’m not quite there yet, but two more weeks…
I work in the publishing world (at a teeny-tiny independent publisher), and our process is much the same with authors. So many eyes see each piece so many times. I find that my copyediting skills haunt me always. While reading Eclipse, I found several grammatical errors. That can’t be comforting to any published author! (: It seems like there will always be more. (By the way, I’m nearly halfway through Breaking Dawn now and, any small errors aside, I haven’t been able to pick up my jaw from the floor since THE NEWS.)
Oh, and I meant to say congrats for reaching this latest milestone. I very much look forward to getting to know these beloved characters…maybe sometime next year?
Sara, high five! I wish I could go to Target with you! We could have coffee and buy things we don’t need! Congratulations on being done (temporarily).
And TadMack, keep going, girl! We can all handle two more weeks. Toward the end I was powered almost exclusively by spicy tortilla chips and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I recommend it. Good luck! Keep climbing that mountain!
Kelley, I had the same reaction to THE NEWS. At that point I was wondering where on earth Stephenie Meyer gets her brain, because it comes up with things I could never in a million years imagine. But that’s what made Breaking Dawn so much fun to read–I really had zero idea what she was going to come up with next. Enjoy!
Carli, despite my pouting, I have to say that the editorial process is actually invigorating. It’s really remarkable to think that someone in New York actually cares whether I’m writing a better book. After so many years of no one paying any attention to my work, it feels SOOOO wonderful to get this level of attention. And I really do believe that all my editor’s pushing and prodding make me rise to a higher level and do much better writing than I would on my own. So it’s all good!
First off, congrats. I’m proud of you! And completely stoked, because this means that in the not-too-distant (for the library/publishing world) future, there will be new books next to Evolution… in my YA section, and I will have more books to booktalk and that makes me deliriously happy.
Enjoy your well-deserved break.
Thanks, Elizabeth! There will be another book–we even have the cover (which I’ll post as soon as I get clearance). It’s amazing how long it takes to go from writing a book to seeing it on the shelf, but it’s coming!
Glad you have some time to chill,Robin,since it looks like we’re getting a good season of Top Chef. Too early to pick favorites,but I was impressed by Eugene being able to make a dish he’s had no previous experience with turn out fantastic.
Okay,I’ve read Breaking Dawn but am confused by THE NEWS ref-can someone just hint at what it is for me,in a non spoilery way? Otherwise,I’ll be wearing out Google trying to figure it out:D
Lady T, I’m assuming The News was the thing that happened around the middle of the book. Is that what you meant, Kelley? No spoilers! Try to speak in code! I assume it’s the thing with the love connection thing. Is that what you meant?
Congratulations!
Yay!
Wahoo! I’m so happy you can come out and hang with us. For a little bit that is.
And you already have a cover? Hints to a title?
Congratulations, Robin.
Thanks, Vivian, Heather, and Nicole! I am so enjoying my break right now–finally finished reading through about five feet of accumulated newspapers yesterday. Ahh. Apparently there was an election not long ago?
Vivian, since you asked . . .
FAT CAT is the name of the next book. Because you should have a simple title after a complicated one, according to the Farmer’s Almanac or something.
And I’ll post the cover as soon as I’m allowed to. It’s gorgeous!
I am intrigued…
Vivian, I know the title isn’t much information. You’ll get a better clue when I can post the cover! One day!
so wait, what is the new book about?
You’ll see . . .
Congrats Robin! What a relief and just in time for the holidays! I finally finished the revision process and started sending queries in late Sept. The response has been good so far so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
FAT CAT… I didn’t know you were writing about my pet! So, I’m curious… how different is draft 9822 from draft 1?