When writing my last blog entry about editing, I had an idea. Last year, I worked on a manuscript. Finishing it at 83,000 words, I edited, made changes and edited again. I thought I was ready to submit. After making a list of agents, I sent it out. A couple of requests for pages and one nice rejection from a well-respected agent where she told me to work on my showing vs. telling. Next, I edited again trying to apply the changes. After more submissions with no luck, I put it aside while I worked on another manuscript and then another.
This weekend, I got that manuscript out again and read it from start to finish without making any changes along the way. I felt I started strong and ended strong, but the middle meandered and went off course a bit. Immediately, I got out a notebook and jotted ideas for changes. I'm going to rework it and try to improve upon it.
I hadn't read that particular manuscript in nearly a year and despite all the editing I'd done at the time, it wasn't good enough. I can see that now but couldn't then. In a way, it's disconcerting. Do I put them all aside for several months to a year and then come back to them only to realize the changes that need to be done? Or are some of those early manuscripts just practice?
I don't know the answer but I liked this particular one enough to take the time now and rework it. Hopefully, it will be even better.
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