This update is long overdue… life has a way of derailing your agendas and timetables. I experienced that this year when I fell at home and broke my shoulder – on the dominant side, of course.
This was not written in my calendar. It was definitely NOT on my agenda for 2022! I am in the midst of final revisions on my Contemporary Christian novel and this really threw an obstacle into completing that.
For those who may not know, I have Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy, which mainly affects my legs, though my right arm is mildly spastic. Being unable to use my dominant arm was devastating. I had to learn to do as much as I could with my right arm. I am older and I have to say it was quite the battle. Eventually I did it, but the journey took me through three weeks in hospital and two weeks in a care facility.
That may sound odd or unbelievable, but it is true. You see I use both my arms to offload my bodyweight from my legs—I use a 4 wheeled walker 20% of the time and a manual wheelchair 80% of the time.
As of last week, I have regained full function and 80% range of motion. Slow and steady wins the race. So, this week I dove back into my novel and am in the process of final revisions, based on my beta reader’s feedback.
This is not the way to do things! Let me be clear! However, God had other ideas. I may not understand the why, but I do understand that He works out all things for those who love Him. Final revisions are challenging and I need the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance.
So far, I have deleted one extraneous character and I’m adding in scenes with a certain character interacting with my main character here and there to give a more realistic feel to that relationship. I am about halfway through the manuscript.
The final revision will involve adding in a complete series of scenes to an existing chapter or to add a new chapter with a twist to add a little more conflict and uncertainty. That will be fun to conceptualize and then execute, plus I don’t have to go through the entire manuscript as I did in the first two revisions. It’s amazing how much I am learning through this process and that gives me a sense of satisfaction.
Can you relate to this article? How do you deal with the complexities of final revisions?
I’ve decided to take a full day off after I finish these second revisions. My body, brain, and eyes need a rest. The next hurdle will be final edits and proofreading which will be a huge challenge.
Once I am satisfied that I have polished the manuscript as much as I can, I may hire another editor to proofread it, to make certain I haven’t missed anything. My goal is zero spelling and grammar mistakes and minimal formatting issues. I think that’s doable.
I will add another post to this series once I get to that point. I do intend to self-publish my book later this year. Please keep me in your prayers as I navigate through the maze that is KDP (Amazon), and Kobo here in Canada.
Stay tuned for Adventures in Self-Publishing… coming soon!
Heather Hancock - Author, Editor, Ghostwriter 