Lady Dae Writes

          I didn't know what I was going to talk about today as I've been preoccupied with editing my novel and editing on one of the critique forums on the internet. But it was until I saw a girl who said she was about done with her query and wanted to know which version to send out that the idea for what to write today came to me.

          I warned the writer, just like I do every writer who thinks they're done with a piece of work that while ten more people might like it, there will be at least one person who won't and except for a few revisions, she had a pretty solid query. It was much better than what she started out with, and I got a feel for her story. I thought it could get a few bites from agents. But sure enough, a few comments later someone came up with the comment that they didn't like either one, and therefore started a complete overhaul of the query again.

          I can't say it enough. If seven out of ten like it, don't worry about the other three. A writer can't satisfy everyone and a writer can't satisfy every agent. They have different opinions too.

          So when is enough enough? I've been trying to figure it out too as I go through and proofread my novel. The few published authors I communicate with online are saying that you're never truly done until your book is published on a bookshelf somewhere and you can't take it back. That's it. It's done.

          But for those of use who are at least a year or more from publication, when do we know? Well, when we starting changing things back to the way they were before, that's when you know it's time to stop.

          See, there is a fine line between under-editing and over-editing, and when you cross either line you start making sloppy mistakes or do things that don't fit. My suggestion is to pick it up and put it down no more than five or six times. That doesn't include proofreading. But our works will never be perfect and someone will always think it can be improved. So don't worry about the few that don't like it. Focus on the more that like it, if more like it.

          Think of the big names in writing. J.K. Rowling for one. Not everyone likes her book. I mean, there are seven billion people on the planet. But enough of them, definitely not the majority but enough, liked her book and bought it so that she's a billionaire now. So think of it like that.

           We'll never be able to satisfy everyone and we as writers will never be satisfied, but when we feel that we've done all we can and we can do no more because we want to revert it back, that's enough. Live with it and be done. The reader does count, but the writer does too and I think in effort to try to satisfy the readership, we writers forget that.

Okay so I finally finished revamping my first story and since I want to give it a test run, I'll put up a chapter week or every two weeks to see what you guys think. It's done this time, except for some extra proofreading I need to do and that's where you all will help me. Point out typos, continuity problems and the like. But other than those little things, the loose are ends tied, extra words gone, the whole nine yards clocking in at 68,300 words. Not bad. But I'll let you decided. I'm putting it up in... oh about the next five minutes and then we'll see what happens. What's it about? You know that idea in the post right below this one? Yeah. That's the one. It's about a girl who controls the forces of nature and has to use her powers to stop the dark mistresses of a tyrant from shattering the seal of oblivion and releasing him from his seven thousand year old prison. It's a lot more complex than that of course, but it finally worked itself out for me, after I cut 18k words from the original draft. Wow. Anywho, TTFN. Give me ten minutes....