Adventures In Editing 

        I still remember the day like it was yesterday. I had believed that I had finally found the right literary agency and agent to help me bring my novel up to it's potential.

     As I scrolled through the pages of my manuscript, trying to find the appropriate ten sample pages that I needed to attach to the cover letter, when I was stopped in my tracks. In an instant I was hit with the most outrageous thought: I can't submit this, it's awful! I know, I know, that's a pretty weird thing for an aspiring author to think when they are about to have - hopefully - a big breakthrough. 

    You see, if you are a writer, whether published or not, you know that our first work is unpolished, it's us testing our surroundings and finding our style of writing and where we stumble and what we thrive in. Well, by the time I had completed my second novel I had finally developed my style of writing. I had learned to be critical, to be objective, and what was acceptable for me to right down and what needed to be omitted.  

    When I scanned those chapters in my first novel I realized just how much I'd grown as a writer. Now keep this in mind, my first manuscript had already been through three total revisions, multiple rounds of critiquing and editing, all together taking over two years. So, when I took a look at that first manuscript I shoved down the nudge I felt to revise it - after all, it had already been through the ringer!

    That was when I leaned back in my chair and thought long and hard. I could send this manuscript off to the agency and maybe I could get it published, but was this manuscript which I had deemed "awful" really what I wanted to be known for as a writer? Despite the answer I wanted to hear, I knew the truth. No. I didn't want to be known for this type of work, because I knew now that it wasn't the best I could do. 

    I felt really confused, and for a while I was at a stalemate. How could I fix this? At first, I grabbed a pen and began to edit the pages where I saw fit...but after almost every paragraph being marked "omit" I knew that regardless of how I felt I had to do the right thing. 

    So, I decided to rewrite basically the entire novel.

    I know, I know, you're wondering who this insane writer is. Well, let me put it this way. I believe I've been called to write, and to write what I'm writing. My first book is important to me, and just because I've had a set back doesn't give me the right to trash all the hopes and dreams that went with it. 

    It has been a slow process, but now with God's help I am re-writing my first manuscript, complete with new character backgrounds and plots, and you know what? I love it! So what if I don't get published right away? The Lord has a plan for everything, and I believe he has a plan for this as well. 

~ Lydia R. Sherren