I decided to edit. Professionally, that is. After reading an article about balancing passive voice with active voice in fiction, I got curious. I opened A Rose Beneath the Snow and got the shock of my life! A glaring error! I kept reading on and found more and more errors. Even after 3 beta readers and my own line by line proofing, I still found mistakes. After six weeks of trying to find them all–and fix them, I was sick. The more I looked, the more I found. I cried uncle and came to the realization that I’m a writer, not an editor.
Enter Historical Editorial. Jennifer Quinlan came to my rescue and kept me from having a nervous breakdown. She loves historicals and it showed in the way she handled my story. She was a consummate professional, keeping her edits to a minimum and making suggestions that forced me to look at my story in a different way. Her fresh take was wonderful! Though I thought I had researched everything, she found two things that were historically inaccurate and I was able to make necessary changes.
By the end of the process, I believe I have a much better story. I made a wise decision in having a professional edit done on my book. I know, I know. It’s all over the internet: write the best story you can; have it professionally edited and have a professionally designed cover made. I thought I could do the editing myself, but I can’t. I heartily recommend that writers do all three.
I’ve asked Historical Editorial to edit A Rose in Summer, which she will do in July–Jennifer Quinlan is one, very busy lady! Will I have her edit Forsaken? You betcha! And every book after that so long as she’s willing to have me as a client.
So, what’s next? Placing my books on Amazon will be the first order of business–both in print and as ebooks. The Heart of a Rose Series will have brand new covers–more about that in another update! I’m working on a contemporary called Pictures for Maddie, a story that takes place right here in my home state of Alabama. I’m also in the planning stages of the De Montbrai Saga Book 2; Aerck and Anne’s story.
Stay tuned!
Gayle Mullen Pace 