I finally finished Faith’s story this week. Oh, how that woman tested me. I certainly was losing Faith, but I knew how I wanted the story to end. And dammit, I ended it my way.

So now that’ I’ve finished Faith’s story (one of three sisters who are into racing, hence Racing Harts being the series name), what do I do with the story.

Well, I let it sit. For a while. Some authors jump straight into editing, but to be honest, I kind of like to let mine sit for a bit longer, normally about six months. Then I will pull it out, do a quick read through, making note on sticky notes (which I LOVE), and then I work through and start editing, changing bits here, things there, adding in a dash of spice, a touch of pepper, stir and mix. Then I send it to my critique partners. The read through it, laugh out loud then confirm that it’s a bunch of bullsh!t and I feel terribly bad. No, seriously, by the time I’ve edited it the first time, I think it’s crap. My critique partners come back with thoughts, any comments about plot holes – (what happened to this guy in your story?), and generally their opinion about the story. These are actually very helpful, and after drinking plenty of whisky, I actually allow myself to sit down and read what they’ve said.

The final part of my editing process is going through the story AGAIN, and then listening to it being read on my computer. It really picks up lots of errors and missing words that others had missed, because we sometimes all know where the story is going.

Once I’m happy with the story, I send it to my lovely editor who reads it through and then comes back to me with edits that may be required. Mostly they’re grammatical errors, because for some reason writers write, they don’t talk or do grammar. (Writers don’t math well either.)

So, there you go, that it what happens to my story from start to finish, which generally takes a year from starting writing to publishing it.

Now, I’m not doing much writing, because I am in the process of formatting Compromising Positions and getting it put up for pre-order.

I hope you had a great week. Take care out there.

Catherine