The first post! Woo!!!

I’m so awkward and too socially inept for suave intros, so. Hello. This is the official blog for our indie series and this is the official first update and I’m so excited that I think I’ve dreamed about writing this post about seven times already.

Is “excited” the right word?

…

We’ll go with that.

Anyway, currently I’m on my last hard edit of the manuscript. Here’s what the rounds look like so far:

Write the thing:
I started writing this version (because there have been many) over a year ago, but it took several months to finish because I went through typical phases of “This isn’t good enough,” and “This isn’t original enough,” and “There are a million books already like this on the shelves.” It took a long time before I finally arrived at the point of “I don’t caaaare!” and finally finished it.

Let the thing sit:
More or less waited until this past March, so probably about five months (while I wrote both book two and three), before I got Victoria and my lovely beta Anna to provide additional feedback.

Revision:
The heaviest phase of the revision progress is this first step. This is scene changing, additions, and lots of fixing of narrative problems. My writing improved from the time I finished to the time I picked it up again, so I fixed such things as mixed metaphors, comma splices, weak figurative language, and so on. I also had the benefit of knowing exactly how the second and third book played out, so there’s lots of subtle foreshadowing but I never told you that.

Let the thing sit again:
I took a few weeks off while another awesome beta, Julia, read and provided her own feedback. I spent a lot of this time working on promo stuff, such as posters, bookmarks, blog layout, and research. Even when I stopped working on the story, I was still working.

Edits:
I took the big problems that Julia mentioned and fixed them in an editing session where I put the full manuscript on my Nook. Still, my writing improved and I’ve spent a lot of time tweaking language and refining the narrative. The reason why I put the manuscript on an ereader was to remove myself from the closeness I have to the story. This distance allows me to be more objective, to see the story as if someone else had written it. Simultaneously, I get to make sure all the formatting checks out on the epub version. Aw, yis.


Those are the steps I’ve made so far. Here’s what’s left to do:

More edits:
I’ll look at Julia’s chapter-by-chapter edits to make sure I didn’t miss anything on my own editing round. The reason why I’m doing this after my first round of edits is so I still have that three-week distance that I gave myself from the story. Reading through her edits would have refreshed my memory, which means I’m more likely to glaze over text instead of critically inspect every word and punctuation mark.

A final look-through:
Victoria will read through the thing yet again for all the finishing touches that need to be made, or to comb out any remaining errors and inconsistencies. By this point, we’ll be able to act out each scene of each chapter from memory and every dream every night will consist of revising and finding a thousand errors that we somehow missed. I wish I was joking.

Formatting:
This is already halfway finished. The epub formatting is done. All we need to do is format the paperback version and load it up on KDP.

Throw a party:
If the editing process hasn’t been the end of us.

The final remaining steps are likely to take about a week depending on how Victoria’s work schedule treats her. Then, we’ll be able to upload the epub versions into Amazon and B&N for purchase, and I’ll blast off into the mesosphere.

In a couple of days, we’ll post the first chapter, free to read or download on the blog, but if you follow us on KeyboardSmashWriters, there’s a chance you’ve already read the opening snippet (from this torturous writing exercise).

Until then, peruse the About and FAQ! We’ll be working ourselves into caffeine addiction. No big deal.