A few months have passed since I finished my first draft of The Heidelberg Ghost. In the meantime, we have moved from our tour in Germany back to the States, got settled, and I unpacked my manuscript from one of the million boxes in our new house.
Cool Off Period
The writers’ books were right: give your novel time to cool off before editing. Once I held my manuscript binder in my hands, after 4 months of moving stress, I couldn’t wait to dive back into my story. Equipped with a pen and highlighter, I began reading through my manuscript, marking blatant errors and spots that needed improvement, leaving the deeper editing for the actual revision.
Being a new writer, I figured my story would be horrible and disconnected, especially since I wrote this one under pressure. However, once I read the first few pages, I became more and more excited. It really felt like reading a novel I could have bought in a bookstore – surprised the heck out of me! Since it’s been a while that I have spent some time with my book, the material felt fresh again and I immersed myself in that world again. It only took me a few days to read through the entire manuscript (a miracle for a slow night-time reader like me!)
Revision
This is the hardest part. So I had a great book, however, it was still very raw, a true 1st draft. It needed a lot of work to tie up the loose ends, fix the grammar and polish it up. I want it to be perfect, for you, the readers. Finally, a few weeks ago, I started going through each and every scene and practically rewrote everything. I want it to be a full-size novel, so 50,000 words wouldn’t cut it. A regular book in this genre has usually between 80,000 – 100,000 words or more. I had my work cut out for myself, but as I went along and I watched my inner movie play out in my head, I found that adding more details and dialog actually enriched this story and made it come even more alive.
The Plan
I’m expecting to finish this round of editing around mid-September and to publish The Heidelberg Ghost just in time for Halloween, hopefully around mid-October.
Stay tuned for updates…
