I’m starting another round of revisions this week. Goodness gracious. I’m exhilarated and excited, while at the same time nervous and apprehensive.
I’ve done three rounds of major revisions now I think (including a complete rewrite). A total of seven drafts. I’m now going to open up a new document and call it “draft 8”. It’s terrifying.
I do think this will be the final big round of revisions for me before I begin to query. The beta feedback has been super useful, but once I’ve made the changes based on the beta feedback, I really don’t know what else to do to improve it. I suppose I could do another round of beta readers, but at what point do you decide to not have any more beta rounds? Also, I’m running out of beta readers 😬
I do think this round of revisions will make a big difference and prepare me to query and hopefully I’ll be ready for querying by September (I said that last year too, but it didn’t happen).
A round of revisions for me is about three drafts, I’ve discovered. It’s one round of big edits in terms of plot, character and setting. Then I do a prose pass or prose edit, where I try to cut down words (I’m over 100k at the moment) and sharpen the language. And then a proof read in ProWriting Aid.
I guess that means I’ll be on draft 10 by the time I query 🤯 I feel lightheaded just thinking about that, lol. I guess it’s time to dive into it. Wish me luck!