Let’s be honest, I’m the one who happily strung the red tape in the first place. What is this referring to? My original plan to embark on the most in-depth editing possible for my debut novel. Why wouldn’t I want to put the most polished book out there?

After some heavy thought, I’ve decided not to move forward with the line-by-line edit. Many reasons stacked up to approve this decision. One being that I’m already over budget. Even without this edit I’m still far from swiping my credit card with items like cover art and author photos on my ‘to do’ list.

The main reason, though, is that my editor already has a job lined up before mine (hooray for her!), which pushes me to six to eight more weeks to complete. This would put my book to be published in two to four months, which right now sounds like an eternity.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to slap a jacket on the thing and shove it out the door. Far from it! I completed my own tenth edit this morning, and … it’s pretty good! Aside from a few descriptions to tighten up, I actually liked what I wrote.

I think having the ‘ideal plan’ written up beforehand is perfectly fine, necessary even in order to keep us walking down the right path. What is equally important is to be able to assess that plan regularly and adjust according to the present moment. When I wrote my book in February I was gearing toward a deadline of July. Yes, it was disappointing when I didn’t meet this goal, but what was I going to do, give up? No way!

So, I flexed my plan, this time tentatively scheduling a deadline of September, maybe October to publish. Eight months to write, edit, and publish a book?! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to put anyone down for taking years to publish. I don’t compare myself to them just like I don’t compare myself to people who publish in a month or two.

For me, my ultimate goal is to eventually publish a book a quarter, or three to four books a year. It’s Women’s Fiction y’all, not a fantasy with time travel and secret doors. I’ve learned a great deal during this process so far and can see how my mistakes cost me months of time, just by doing things in the wrong order.

So now what since I’ve decided not to do a line-by-line edit?

The next step is to see how my friends and family like it. Yikes! I’ve already posted a blog about how nerve-wracking it is to put my work out there for other’s to read. I’d like to think that I’ve jumped this hurdle with success when I know I still have some practicing to do. Hopefully I’ll get better feedback than “Look at this, you wrote a book!” while at the same time be able to take such criticisms as “This part really doesn’t work.”

Either way, I’m beyond excited with this decision to move forward (and to finally continue with book two, which is already in the works!). Be on the lookout for when I announce my publishing date!