February Plans

February has arrived, and along with the new months comes new plans. January was a huge month for me and for Clara and Claire especially. Now that the book is finished I am already working on revisions and edits. 

My plan for revisions is this: I go through every chapter twice. Once to add and remove anything, and a second time using ProWritingAid to assist me in fixing sentences, overused words and etc. I'm also keeping track in a small notebook any questions I have that I know will come into play later. This is only a brief look into what I do. It's time consuming and not easy. I finished chapter one today and felt comfortable with moving on. Maybe I'll only get through one chapter each day --who knows about what I can accomplish on the weekends. Even so, there's 34 chapters so if I spend one day on each chapter that is still decent time. And it allows me to really analyze the chapter and look more closely at the plot and characters. I want to make sure everything is going as it should be.

I'm also in the market for beta-readers. I've announced this on Facebook and Instagram, but if you're someone who thinks they would be interested please let me know. This will be my first time using beta-readers, but I definitely want to give it a try --especially when my other author friends have such success with it. 

The plan for Clara and Claire is to have it ready to release this year. Since I just finished the book last month, I also won't be too upset if I can't release until next year. It will ruin my track record for releasing a book every year for the past four years, but I don't want to put this book on shelves if it isn't ready.

So far I'm feeling really excited to be editing. I know this will probably change; it's not the easiest task. For right now I think I have a lot of energy built up from all the hours I spent just trying to write the book, and now it's exciting to think what else I can change to make it the best it can be. I definitely want to put my best work forward, so again I'm urging interested beta-readers to step forward. 

As for the book cover, it's in the works way ahead of schedule. I'm exciting to have the cover in advance, so I don't have to be worrying about that and can focus on revisions. 

All in all, this month is all about revisions. I want to get as most as I can done, and then next month hopefully hand out my book to beta-readers. I need to look more into it because I've never gone through with that process again. 

Well, I'm off to spend time with the hubby. I have a lot on my mind and a lot of work ahead of me,  but again the hardest part is done. I'll gladly take on the challenge of editing now!

Lindsey Richardson