I’ve still been working on the latest Dawn Saga novel, despite all the awesome climbing I did over the summer. After finishing the second draft, I gave the manuscript to my editor. It took a month or so for her to read it and give her feedback. Once she did, I began grinding away on the 3rd draft.

Having someone else read an early version of my work (especially something as large as a novel) is a bit nerve wracking. I spend hundreds of hours writing and revising, and if something major is wrong, it can set the process back significantly. If one of my story arcs is junk, or a new character is boring, it means huge rewrites. In addition, I have standard line edits and additional content to create, even if the major things are spot on.

Every time I go through this step of the process, I hope my editor will say it’s good as is, or maybe  just only minor changes required. Another (better, smarter) part of me knows that is foolish and wants feedback on how to make the book better. But not too much feedback. That just means I did a bad job.