my deep and abiding love of the red pen

I love revisions. Adore them. Apart from actually selling a book they are my favourite thing about writing. Which surprised my editor no end!

But here's why...

The book has been written. The hard work of creating loveable three-dimensional characters, of generating unique and believable conflicts, of keeping them apart and giving them a beautiful happy ending has been achieved. The book has been read by my editor, deemed to be so very close to ready - woohoo!!! - and this is where the fun comes in.

I print out my whole book and begin the slash and burn!

This is where I get to come back to a story with fresh eyes, to ditch the funny but ultimately extraneous scenes I was so atttached to I couldn't let them go, where I will have lightbulb moments about the perfect word I couldn't put my finger on when I was so close to the material it became a blur. I can pare down the fat and leave behind a lean mean fighting book!

So that's me. This weekend I'll be neck deep in "Heavenly Bodies" reliving the romance between star-crossed lovers Cameron Kelly and Rosalind Harper. She's an astronomer with her head in the clouds, he's a property developer with his feet firmly planted on the ground. Can they find their way to meet somewhere in between?