Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Editing Blessings, Part One, by Paula Rose Michelson

Many of you have been reading this blog and know that this dyslectic author can't tell a misspelled word or a misplaced comma anymore that she...I mean, I can write anything worthwhile without it being God inspired. I know! I've tried and the truth is that left to my own resources I can misspell a word incorrectly six ways from Sunday. And punctuation, .don't even get me started on that! So given that my writing blindside is about as big as the biggest barn you've ever seen, and as high as the eagle can fly, I've discovered a few things: 

1).If a reader falls in love with your story they'll overlook the occasional opps'. 

2). If you're getting slammed because of mechanical issues look at your story. 

3). Stories with tension on every page keep readers reading. 

Have people told you they can't put it down? Or have you been told that the reader reads many books at the same time? If the latter is what you've heard then be assured that person was not captivated by your book. 

"I'm okay on all of those," you say.

Great! Then you're where I am! I say that because my books are getting rave reviews, so much so that I'm astounded. And perhaps that's why my inability to even see if an edit was done well or not is becoming an issue. 

Or maybe, and I really think this is the case, God knows it's time to stretch me again. I really do love Jeremiah 29:11, which says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to proper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope," but just now, I must admit, I don’t want be stretched! After all I've been on this writing journey with Messiah since 2007, given up a lot, and gotten...well...meet a lot of wonderful people. You know those that can't wait to help. Like the friend who wanted to read the first manuscript of Casa de Naomi: The House of Blessing, Books One and Two so badly that she told me her spiritual gift was editing and found very few errors but loved the books. Or the publisher whose contract read like they were going to do it all, but...

After years of prayer, work...really, really hard work and dedication, I finally realized that left on my own, I don't make good, I should say, God decisions regarding my books editing or publication! So, I finally realized that besides praying, and trying to figure out what's best...with my husband’s help of course, I need to remember the wisdom found in Proverbs 15:22, for it says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."


Having reached the precipice I could not scale, I knew it was time to send up the S.O.S.! Now doing what Gods Word says to do sounds easy when it's read. But really adhering to the meaning IN those 11 words was anything BUT easy....






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