Just got back from working with the editor person. On the whole it went very well. They gave this go round a B+. Not too shabby. Not where I want it to be in the final product, but very close to a solid draft, something that I can shop around, without worrying about the manuscript getting tossed for grammar or technical glitches. More importantly I feel it’s worth paying for. I would buy it, if I didn’t write it myself. After implementing these changes I’m going to be able to hold up the book and say, yeah, this is mine. This is what I can do. It’s not all I can do, or all I ever will do, but this is something. With the time I had to work with, I gave it everything I had. I didn’t hold back.

Holding back has been a long standing problem for me. Back in high school I ran cross country, and it took me two years of never finishing better than the middle of the pack before I realized where I went wrong. I was a strong runner, but I was afraid to break hard off the starting line and run with the guys who took off so much faster. I reasoned that they would fall off later in the race and I could pass them.

My strategy was all kinds of messed up. Sure, some guys did start too fast and flame out. But many of the guys who went out full tilt, finished a lot better than I did. Lots of them seemed to finish in the top ten. In junior year, I tore off the line just like the fatest sprinters, throwing caution to the wind. Much to my surprise it was a lot easier to keep the momentum going. When you start strong, it’s a lot easier to finish strong. And there’s a lot less people nipping at your heels. Suddenly I was finishing in the top ten.

I’ll post more about the editing session tomorrow.