Dancing on Top of the World

I’m doing a happy dance because I have officially completed the editing process (phase I) for Nowhere Feels Like Home! Whoo Hooo!! People, I think we might actually have a book on the way. The phase I editing process is always the worst (unless of course I happen to be in phase II, III, or IV of the editing process – then they are the worst) because I am attempting to take the monstrosity I have just completed and make shape it into something readable.

I took two days of vacation last week because I wanted to get this part of the editing process completed, but really didn’t buckle down until Saturday. Then, since I haven’t been able to sleep much for the past two nights, when I got up this morning (at 0500 after drifting off finally at around 0300) I decided to extend my vacation, which is something I never do. I started working right away, with very few distractions throughout the day and while I was hoping to get a chunk completed, I never dreamed I’d be blogging about being finished tonight. So, sometimes playing hookey from work pays off.

The beginning of the editing process is difficult to get me to focus as that last page is just so far out of sight. I hit a good pace today and managed to knock out an unprecedented 80 pages. For those of you who have been following along, you will remember just yesterday I said I had 76 pages to go. Yes, as I edit, my work tends to grow rather than shrink. Since I am always trying to keep a cap on the word count and page numbers this becomes an issue from time to time. Fortunately, the initial manuscript of Nowhere Feels Like Home came in right where I wanted it to be, and I am still on target to keep to my original page and word count maximums. We’ll have to see what happens during the next few editing phases.

My poor niece called this evening (sorry Justine) to tell us about exciting happenings for her through her involvement with the school soccer team (she’s been invited to play in a tournament which could lead to an offer for a club team), and she caught me about 7 pages from completion and I was giddy by that point. So she got an aunt who was ready to scream and shout whooo hooo for any reason at all, and made her get excited on the phone too.

I think I’m going to enjoy this feeling for a few moments (almost as good as finishing the manuscript the first time around), make myself a cup of tea, and then slowly, ever so slowly, let reality creep back in with the realization, that I still have more editing to do.

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LK Gardner-Griffie
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