I’m in the last stages of reworking my novel Bone Songs in preparation for publication in spring 2017. I need to submit this draft by the end of July, or soon after, so the publisher can go through it again and make other recommended revisions.
The last part of the process will include copyediting, fine tuning grammar and punctuation. The manuscript needs to be complete and ready to go to press in November so advanced review copies (ARCs) will be available six months before the novel is released. The ARCs are sent out to publications like Library Journal and others who might be willing to do early reviews.
The problem with trying to revise work that I’ve already been through numerous times is that I don’t want to change it! While the editor’s comments may convince me that I need to add new material or rethink certain sections, it’s very difficult to make those changes in the document that I now think of as final. I can’t generate and insert new material into a narrative that feels complete.
What to do?
Open a new MW doc and forget about the other one. Free write for as long as it takes to make the required changes. And remember this process the next time I have to revise a manuscript that seems finished. Until I run into a roadblock again and have to improvise a way over it!
Any ideas?
