Last night, I turned in my edits! Wahoo!
It took me about 6 weeks to rewrite the third book in the Cadence of Grace series, but boy oh boy…being on the other side of all that hard work, makes me so excited and thankful for what the story has become. I could have never done it on my own and each time I work on revisions, I’m reminded once again how wonderful my editors are.
I spent the last few days reading the story on an iPad while making changes on my laptop which is a great way to see the story as a “reader” instead of a “writer.” It really helps me catch mistakes and uh oh’s that I may have missed. SO…just for fun, and to celebrate the first round of revisions being done (happy dance!) I thought it would be fun to show you a few behind the scenes bloopers and oopsies that I fixed. 😀
- Lonnie: “Just stand right here in the center of the room and it’ll just take a moment. We’ll want everything to fit you just right.”
(and we have a theme…JUST sayin’) 😉
- The kitchen was ajar…
(yes, the whole kitchen stood ajar. Maybe I should just make it the door.)
- Gideon’s words were near her ear. “I should get back to work, though.” Rising, he reached for his saw and got back to work.
(and I’m glad that’s clear.)
- Gideon: “Lonnie, I’m sorry I didn’t love you as well as I should have in book one.”
(We might have to work on that line.)
Also:
BE STILL MY SOUL is NOW available in Large Print! If you like large print or have a loved one who does, you can order it online in hardback and with this beautiful Large Print edition cover which I love. I can just see Lonnie and Gideon, starting out on their journey… 🙂
If you have a mother, aunt or grandmother in your life who reads large print and want to get a copy for them for mother’s day, please let me know and I would love to send you a little note with a signed bookplate and bookmark to go with it! You can leave a comment below or contact me through my website.
That one about the kitchen being ajar cracks me up! You JUST have to watch out for those ajar kitchens! JUST WATCH IT! And I tend to over-use “just,” too. I just do.
Don’t you just hate those pet phrases!? 😉 It’s apparently my go-to in dialogue, LOL.
Thanks for the insider looks at your edits, Joanne. I know “just” how you feel about catching our oopsies, repetitions, etc. Good thing our editors give us the opportunity to “get back to work” on our stories and give them that needed final polish. I’m looking forward to reading the final book in the series, when Gideon learns to make up for not loving Lonnie as much as “he should have in book one.” 🙂
Congratulations on going to LARGE PRINT!
Keli,
My pleasure. I always love seeing your posts or posts by other authors of the insider stuff and how they do things. To me, it’s half of the fun. 🙂
Yes, I think Gideon has a lot of making up to do for not loving Lonnie as much as he should have in book one…starting off with a better apology than that 😉
LOL, love that last one. 🙂 Congrats on getting that rewrite done. I don’t even think the word “edits” covers what you did.
Hugs!
That last one is my favorite too. It wasn’t actually in the manuscript when Shannon read it but I think I got brain fried during edits and was staring at the computer trying to give Gideon something to say and apparently that was the best I could come up with.
Yes a bit more than edit. I call it rewriting a half a book. But it’s so much better. So thankful for Shannon!
I edit my books in my kindle app on my iPad mini as well. 😀 It saves so much on ink paper!!!!
Hi Dawn! This was my first time ever doing it this was and I LOVED it! I was going to send it to my kindle, but heard the text can be small so I borrowed my husbands iPad and I think I was able to catch things so much easier! 🙂
Thanks for giving me a chuckle! So funny what slips by us and we say “WHAT!? when we finally catch ourselves!
It’s so true. It’s amazing how many times we can write the silliest things! 🙂
Joanne – Ha! What fun! Thank you for sharing these funny little spots with us. I couldn’t help but think of that terrible joke: “The blind man picked up his hammer and saw!” And yes, Book One was pretty profound in all our minds, so we can totally understand why Gideon would refer to it. Kevin and I have 2005 that we refer to all the time – if someone had written about it, I suppose we’d be saying “Back in Book One” too! Hee!
Oh, Becky…I think our life stories have a similar thread running through them! Our year would be 2011. The year that everything broke and God in all his goodness put it back together–stronger <3
Hugs my friend!
I was laughing out loud reading these (which made my three year old twins laugh, too)! So thanks for the afternoon pick-me-up. 🙂 I’ve made a lot of those blunders, too. It’s always a nice little surprise when you go back through and edit. Can’t wait to read book three!
Oh, Gabrielle, the things we say! In the moment, when we’re so focused on the story, it all seems to be right but then when we look back at it a bit, those oopsies stand out better, don’t they? 😉 I’m so glad you’re looking forward to the third book. Thank you! I’m so excited for you and being newly-agented and all that is in store!
Huge sigh of relief with you. Congratulations! Can’t wait to read Book 3!
Thank you, Mona! I’m excited for you to read it too. I’ve been so eager to start your story and now…I get to!! Woopee!!
Hahaha!!! Loved those bloopers 😀 YAY!!! Sooo looking forward to diving into Book 3 😀 😀
Oh, Jenna, you should see the bloopers from Be Still My Soul. It usually involved Gideon doing something REALLY dorky 😉 Can hardly WAIT to get you book 3!! Hugs!
No matter how much I zoom in, I can’t make the screen shot advance!!!
Haha! That made me laugh! I should have made the picture bigger 😉
Hahaha! I love that last one! You are such a tease, Joanne, this book is going to be great, I just know it!!
Thanks, Debbie! *grin* I’m so blessed by your vote of confidence. I hope so!