The Last Dance Edited

Do you edit in your sleep? I do...sometimes...when I've got editing on the brain. It's terribly disruptive to a good night of sleep.

After working through the ms I stopped just short of perfect for now. There is one scene that would have to be pulled and stretched and refined in The Last Dance if I were ever to show it to anybody. But, since I don't plan to, I just edited and worked on several other scenes, fixing and rewriting some of them.

In a nutshell:

I was surprised by how slow the beginning is compared to what I remembered. And I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to pull off the end the way I did. It's not literary but I am happy with it.

For a story that I wrote while 'winging it' with no plan to write it at all until the day I just started pounding it out on my keyboard, I am satisfied. I had no character cards, no detailed outline, no layout and map of the town (seriously, I usually add color and everything), but it is done and I plan to read it again when I need a quiet little adult read.

I edited the story in the computer today and printed a fresh copy to sit on the bookshelf.

While I am satisfied with the project, I am less satisfied with some others that have been waiting for editing. I picked up Kindley's Sorrows again and started looking through the drastic changes I had been making before life made me set it aside a little while ago. I'd gotten about a fourth of the way through on my last attempt so I picked up from the beginning and began again.

The heroine of KS is my favorite that I have ever written. (Don't tell Abigail, Emberlin, Susie, or Katie. They might not understand.)

KS is lovely but my favorite story is AHIP - it was just an absolutely wonderful ride out in the world of possibilities.

But Emmalina Rivelly, the heroine of KS, has my heart and I feel an obligation to do my best to get her story right and to give her a nemesis worth having. I have to drastically rewrite several scenes and add several new ones.

I sure hope I am up to the task because Emmalina deserves to have her story told, if only to join Sean and Susie, and I really don't want her visiting me in my sleep regarding the edits I do. She can have a nasty streak if she feels like she is not being listened to. So, here's to Emmalina staying out of my dreams and me having the ability to write her story.

I'm off to edit and rewrite.