Almost 30,000 Words. . .and Counting

My WIP is coming along nicely. I have 50k as my final target and I am nearly to the 30k mark. Writing is a fun hobby - but an unbelieveable amount of work. I have literally poured blood, sweat, and tears into this. And the worst is yet to come. . . editing! I can best describe editing as a heart wrenching, devastating experience. A situation where you go out on a limb and bare your soul only to have it trampled on and quite positively crushed. Even the kindest critic makes me flush with embarrassment over all the little mistakes and omissions I've made. I want to be better. I know I can be better. Why can't my critics/editors see inside my head and immediately know what I meant? There's always room for improvement. . . I guess. . . and I hope I am improving. Time will time.

Right now, I'm also tackling some professional edits. After 3 intense rounds of content edits, my line edits are in for my soon-to-be published story. I thought my story was about the best I could make it, but I was sorely mistaken. My manuscript is covered in comments. This editor is different than the one who did my first 3 rounds so some of the comments are contradictory. We'll see how it goes. It's my first experience with line editing as it is my first time being published. Published. Now that takes the sting out of my latest writing fumble. Let me savour the satisfied feeling that word creates for a moment. I am driven to write, but I am so pleased and proud to have my work published. It motivates me to work on my current WIP, propels me toward the 50k mark.

I used to find finishing a story was the challenge. But the real challenge is in the polishing. Like a diamond in the rough, my editors are guiding me to polish my story into a sparkling success (I hope). I am eternally grateful for this opportunity even though the process is both heart wrenching and devastating. No pain, no gain, right? The end result is all that matters. Completion. The holy grail of writing.

My editor also mentioned my cover art is almost finished which is really exciting. This whole process is amazing and exhilarating and somedays I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going next. But I know one thing, I love books. I love reading them and I love writing them and I am fortunate enough to have the chance to do both.