A Love Story or Love the Story?

I am learning a lot as I am going through the publishing process for my first book. For instance it is true when the experts say you have to like what you have written. This is mainly because you will read it a hundred or more times before it ever gets into the hands of the readers.

After it’s written and you have done your best editing, then you should have a professional editor look at it. I had three editors look over A Scent of Lilac before I submitted it to various agents and publishers (traditional way versus self-publishing). When the editors send the manuscript back to you, you look at the suggested changes and can either fix them or leave them. By now as the writer you know certain passages by heart and can quote them like favorite lines of your movies.

So now you have a professional manuscript and you start shopping it around. Once you sign a contract with a particular agent or publisher you will work with their editing staff to fine tune your book even more.

A Scent of Lilac often reminded me of my experience writing my thesis for my masters degree. After months of researched I compiled and analyzed all the data I had gathered and began writing my conclusions. Each week I would take it to my advisor and each week she would want me to change something. Then I would go back and make the revisions, only to have to change something else the following week.

When my thesis document was approved by my advisor for submission, I would say 85% had been revised back to the original version I submitted on Week 1. This is what a friend of mine would call second-hand fun. When you are in the middle of an experience and not having fun at all, but later when you look back you realize you had a little fun or can at least laugh at the experience now.

As many of you know, I have been working with my publisher over the last few weeks on the edits for my book. During the first round a lot of the suggestions to change were things I changed because one of the editors I had hired suggested it. So I changed it back to how I had written it originally.

It cracks me up how many times an email comes from my publisher and says “final edits.” So far I have done three final edits with a couple more still to come. The last edit I did I had to initial every page indicating I had read it. I think that was the twentieth time I had read my book in the last month.

I know I am biased, but I think it’s a good story and readers will enjoy it. After all, I have read it over 100 times now.

Mark your calendars - A Scent of Lilac is scheduled for release on July 6, 2021.