The editor always has your back.

Just in case you ever wondered what the editor aka SFG aka Scott Fitzgerald Gray does for you specifically, my lovely readers, I stumbled across this seven year old Facebook post that exemplifies his power for good perfectly:

A screenshot of MCD’s Facebook post about adding a final scene to Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (Dowser 2).

And how was the book going to end (had SFG not intervened)?

[massive spoiler for Dowser 1 below, just in case you haven’t read it yet!!]

I gazed at the golden god of a man across from me. My mind was reeling and my thoughts unfocused. He looked maybe thirty-five if I attributed the crinkles around his eyes to age, rather than to sun and laughter.

He let me look at him. His sword had returned to wherever he pulled it from. His arms were at his sides, palms open to face me … in surrender or acceptance?

“I have my mother’s eyes,” I said, releasing the breath that had been blocking my ability to speak.

“Yes,” Yazi, the warrior of the dragons, answered. “But every other inch of you is me.”

He was right. I was his spitting image.

Half-witch, half-dragon. Well, that was one mystery solved.

I smiled, hitting him with one of my best efforts ever.

“Hi, Dad,” I said.

Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic (Dowser 2)

Things I googled today.

I’m doing a final pass on Dowser 8 before I send it back to the editor for line and content editing. At this point I’m scanning the entire book, checking on and (hopefully) resolving anything that I’ve highlighted in my previous pass(es).

Highlights usually denote new sections that I’ve written (in response to the editor’s story notes) that I want to go over a few more times. I also highlight certain words that are bugging me (this happens a lot while I’m writing) and things that need to be double checked – timeline, background, etc.

And some highlights are things that need to be verified by google. Because I often don’t want to take the time while writing to go online and possibly break my flow.

So I thought it might be fun to make a list of the things I googled while doing a final editing pass on Dowser 8.

  • Is there a a series recently built brick townhomes on the corner of Vine Street and West 2nd Avenue in Vancouver? Nope! I’m mixing up streets. According to Google Maps, the red house with the tiny picket fence is still there!
  • Are there lights along the seawall path by Kits Pool? Google Maps confirms yes!
  • The menu at Browns Socialhouse.
  • Amedei Porcelana Chocolate Bar (I have one in the house, but I was too lazy to go look at the label).
  • Was BC Place built for Expo 86? Answer: Nope. 1983. Removed reference in text.
  • I also spent A LOT of time poking all around Gastown on Google street view.

Also, for fun, here are a few things I had to double check from the other books during my final pass:

  • Was Jade wearing cupcake pajama pants in Dowser 4? Answer: Yes.
  • Jade first met Yazi four years ago? Answer: July 2013. So almost four and half.
  • Was the Southern Pack mentioned in Oracle 2? Answer: No! I changed the name to the Gulf Coast North American Pack
  • Are there laurel hedges at the top of Gran’s driveway? No specific mention in Dowser 1, so I went ahead and added them.
  • Double checked the description of Pulou’s knife. Seen in Dowser 4: a nasty-looking blade with a gigantic emerald embedded in the center of its guard. And in Dowser 6: shortsword with the huge emerald embedded in its guard.
  • Description of the treasure keeper’s ivory Buddha. In Dowser 4: a three-foot-tall Buddha carved out of some sort of tusk. And Dowser 6: The three-foot-high carved ivory statue was still wearing my mangled katana like a lopsided crown.
  • Pulou’s age: 600? Answer: Nope. 500+
  • Taste of the elf’s magic in Dowser 7: “It came with the smell of rain after a terrible dry spell … a storm on the horizon … and, underneath the wildness, sharp woodsy notes — cedar and sap, perhaps.”

I need to go over the final scene again but I’m going to leave that to tomorrow when I have fresh eyes.

It might not look like it …

… but I’m working through the editor’s (aka SFG’s) story notes for Dowser 8 today.

I’m three-quarters of the way through knitting armwarmers in Gauge Dye Works’ self-striping merino twist yarn in the Sweet Baby James colourway. If knitting updates interest you, I usually post more on my Instagram page.

Yep, this is what brainstorming a ‘missing’ scene looked like earlier this afternoon.

I’ve also spent the day trying to convince myself that I have absolutely no need for a new iPad, even if I would totally have fun writing with the pencil.

And .. that’s editing in a nut shell. For this book, at least.

Story editing and an excerpt

I finally got Dowser 8 off to the editor (aka SFG aka Scott Fitzgerald Gray) for story editing this morning. Though I nearly lost my mind trying to output the manuscript from Scrivener (the software I use to write) into a WORD document because the compile function had been updated/upgraded. Anyway, an hour and half later, I dropped the book in Scott’s inbox. YAY!

And, because some of you might ask, I haven’t set a release date yet. There are three stages of editing – story, line/content, then proofread. And those tasks depend on other people’s schedules as well as at least two, if not three, more drafts of the novel, plus a polish, that depend on me. Late spring/early summer is my best guess right now.

To celebrate I thought I’d share an excerpt with you.

“Treasure Keeper.” I struggled to keep my tone smooth. “Thank you for coming. I do have some questions. Would you like to step inside the bakery?”

He tilted his head, making a show of thinking about it. “Are there cupcakes?”

“Probably not. Nothing fresh, at least. But I believe we were just about to order sushi.”

Pulou grimaced. “Raw fish.”

“We could order some tempura.” Yes, I was cajoling one of the nine most powerful beings in the world with deep fried prawns and veggies. I had a feeling it was that, or give into the need to beat him around the head until he apologized — for locking me up and not telling me about the elves. “And there might be some leftover petit fours.”

“That will have to do then. Not created by your hand, alchemist, but I shall have to endure, I suppose.” He offered me a smile.

I returned the smile, with less teeth. I wasn’t fooled by his attempt to charm me. Seriously. A girl knew when her former mentor would like nothing better than to kick her ass and retrieve the instruments of assassination.

– Dowser 8, Chapter 8, third draft [selectively edited for extreme spoilers][unproofed]

 

 

Happy Birthday, SFG! The 2017 edition.

To my extraordinarily patient/understanding/thorough/supportive editor (and I’m not just saying that because you’re currently working on Dowser 7):

Yep, that’s another freaking year!!

Please join me in wishing Scott Fitzgerald Gray the happiest of birthdays. Without him my novels would be clunky, at best, none of the characters would be dressed (at least not consistently) and you’d never know what anything – be it a weapon, an artifact, or a room – looked like.

Reconstructionist 2: editing mode

I received story notes from Scott Fitzgerald Gray (aka the editor, aka SFG) on Reconstructionist 2 last night, which means that I’m in editing mode this morning.

To that end, I have accomplished the following before 10:23 am:

  1. fed and free ranged the chickens
  2. drank my breakfast smoothie
  3. cleaned the kitchen
  4. emptied my inbox (as empty as it gets)
  5. took a selfie in support of International Women’s Day
  6. posted selfie on Facebook
  7. showered
  8. dried my hair
  9. put on and flipped a load of laundry

Currently: blogging.

Next up: hot chocolate and gingersnaps.

So yep, I am editing.

Oh … and I thought you might like a sneak peek at the title for book two:

The first page of my notebook for Reconstructionist 2. Gearing up on the final draft!

Avoiding Editing

I’ve taken my capacity to avoid editing to an entirely new level with Catching Echoes, Reconstructionist 1. A sampling of the avoidance techniques I’ve employed in the first three hours of my day are as follows:

    1. Completely mapping out the ending of Dowser 9 in my head while taking a shower and blow drying my hair. I have at least four more books to write between R1 and D9.
    2. Discussing the fine details of the song Michael is currently writing, including the musical ‘makeup.’ And, yeah, I know nothing about music. Not. A. Thing.
    3. Making a wish list of small fruit I’d like to add to the orchard NEXT SPRING, including researching optimal growing conditions for a Meyer Lemon.
    4. Social media posts. Including posting a picture of my cats on Instagram. Because what could possibly be a better way to waste time?
    5. Listening to music to ‘get me into the head space,’ then writing large random chunks of Reconstructionist 2.
    6. Coming down with a head cold. This is an amazing feat, because I never leave the house so I have no idea where I could have picked up a cold. So therefore, logically, it’s self-generated. Like a reverse superpower.
    7. Blogging.
    8. This post needs a picture, let’s see … hmmm … chickens?

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So now that my shame is out there, and everyone knows the lengths to which I will go to avoid editing, I will now be forced to edit for the remainder of the day … and for all the days between now and my deadline to get R1 back to the editor.

Oh! But first, a hot chocolate. [That’s not an avoidance tactic, it’s a fundamental need].