BOM: The Editing

Once again, I'm hard-pressed to remember the editing, but I do remember a few things. Obviously, as I mentioned before, T.J. Maxx vanished. (Too bad--I love that store.)

When I handed in the book, I wrote it in first/third POV, all present tense. My editor didn't like that, so I changed it to all first person. Because it can be confusing for a reader to read a new chapter in another character's head, I planted little clues in subheads:

Any chapter which began "Apartment 15A" was Aurora's

"Apartment 15B" was Philips (the Boy) and

"Apartment 15C" was Clara's.

I don't know that many readers caught the hints, but they were there.

Lisa Bergren, who was hired as freelance editor, suggested that I enhance the scenes where Aurora struggles to go down the stairs, a new step each day. A great suggestion.

I do remember one exchange Lisa and I had--at one point, Aurora describes herself as "middle aged" and she's thirty-five. Lisa, who is about that same age, protested that she hadn't reached middle age yet! I replied that man is granted "three score and ten," and thirty-five is exactly the half-way point. If that's not middle-age, I don't know what is!

Now that I'm nearing two score and nine, I think thirty-five is terribly young. Even though it IS exactly "middle age." I'm hoping, however, to make it to ninety-six. (VBG)

Tomorrow: The results and reader reaction

~~Angie