Cuts & Bruises: Publishing Update #3

It’s been a long time since I’ve written here. The recent phase of editing for “Cuts & Bruises” simply took over and I had no time nor energy for anything else. But now, I am finally moving on to the next stage so thought I’d write a quick update.

I received the second proof copy of my novel back in November, covered in notes and suggestions, as I mentioned in the previous update, Cuts & Bruises: Publishing Update #2. That has been my sole focus the past few months and sent me into crunch mode (a bit) the past few weeks.

My first “paper edit”

For the first time ever, I decided to print out my manuscript for editing! Some of the “bigger” notes and suggestions I received meant checking over the whole manuscript for continuity and consistency. In the past, I thought that printing the MS (manuscript) out for editing was a waste of paper and surely more tiresome. But honestly, it worked so well for me this time.

I had a list beside me of the issues that I needed to track and change, each linked to a coloured sticky note. Then, I started reading and used my sticky notes to link sections of the MS so I could view them together to check for continuity and consistency. For example, I used the sticky notes to point out all the “family scenes” to cross-check them with each other, stuff like that. Sure, ctrl+f could’ve done this for me too, but there’s nothing better than the human eye sometimes.

And honestly, it was quite fun getting in there and dissecting my manuscript again. As anyone who knows me knows, I love organising, so it just became a little project for me.

As I read through, I scribbled in the edits and changes that I needed to put in.

Reading it like this also pointed out other issues to me that hadn’t been apparent before. I also spotted numerous typos and word mistakes several times. It was also much easier to see the bits where my dear editor had changed things a bit too much, losing the voice of the narrative along the way.

In the future, I will probably add this phase to my editing routine, but I’d still keep it to the end to save paper and ink (won’t somebody please think of the trees?!).

So finally, I applied those notes to the digital manuscript, added in the extra pages like the acknowledgments and such, and sent it back to the publisher.

We are within four months of the launch now! That is both thrilling and scary. “Cuts & Bruises” has my heart and soul within its pages. It means so much to me to get it out there, although that too is scary; I’ve laid myself pretty bare within its pages.

The journey continues!

I hope you’re all having a great start to your 2022. Let me know what you’re up to!