The line edits of Heart of Gold arrived over the weekend. The first couple of days with them, I've handled the easy stuff. Today begins the more complicated––looking for places to add scenes, attempting to clarify where the editor thought something wasn't clear.
I have a love-hate relationship with this time in a book's creation. I love that I can make a book stronger. I hate that my head sometimes feels like it will explode. ☺
Over the past year or two, I have made huge strides in going paperless in my writing. I used to print off page after page from the Internet. I used to print the pages of my manuscript at the end of each work day. I had notebooks and folders and stationery boxes full of pages in relationship to my WIP.
Thanks to different software on my MacBook, I have found better ways to work. The amount of paper that goes out in the recycle bin from my office (at least in relationship to the WIP) has been reduced significantly.
However, when doing line edits, the urge to print a copy of the manuscript is strong. I still long to go at a hard copy with a red pen. I long to, but I don't. Because I've learned it doesn't actually make the work any easier. In fact, it's more than likely part of my procrastination as I wrestle with the changes.
Speaking of procrastination, it's time to open the aforementioned line edited manuscript and get to work.
~robin
