I’m still working on the editorial revisions on the new series “Storm Runners” for Scholastic, which is scheduled to be out in Spring 2011. I finished the draft of this first novel at the end of January while I was in Mexico basking on the shores of the Sea of Cortez. It usually doesn’t take five months for the edits to get back to me, which is actually longer than it took me to write the novel, and I hope that never happens again. But there is a bright side to the delay… I haven’t read the novel, or thought about it much, since I hit the send button. The time lapse has given me a better perspective on the story, more clarity, and less emotional attachment to the words I scratched down in the desert heat. This makes the editorial suggestions and edits a lot easier to accept.
I actually enjoying being edited. And my editor has done a fabulous job. Every revision makes the story better. The photo above is a shot of a typical page. Some people might find these markups horrifying. I find comfort in all the revisions. It’s like slashing fat and replacing it with muscle. In the end it creates a stronger and healthier story.
I hope to have the revisions finished by next weekend, then it will be onto Storm Runners #2. When that’s finished I’ll get back to the third Cryptid Hunter novel.