- September 2010–Reread the book in preparation for the first revision specifically for my editor
- October 2010–Reread the book as I edit it
- February 2011–Reread the book in preparation for the second edit
- March 2011–Reread the book as I edit it.
- May 2011–Reread the book in preparation for the third edit
- June 2011–Reread the book as I edit it.
- August 2011–Reread the book for the fourth edit, and edit as I read
- September 2011–Reread the book for the copy edit
- October 2011–Reread the book for the galley edit
Why did I read it, then read it as I edit? Why not just read and edit as I went through? I find it helpful to get the big picture of the book firmly set in my mind before I start going through mucking around in the individual chapters. Better to know the big stuff and edit all at once, rather than edit chapter one, find out in chapter five that there was something else to be changed in chapter one, then find out in chapter ten that yet another big thing had to be changed. Make sense?
In any case, I’m at the point now that I have trouble remembering when I changed what in which draft. That said, I’m *really* familiar with this book now. 🙂
Overall, the book looks great. It’s been really interesting to see each of these steps first hand. I had no idea just how complex and involved the revision process can be. From here, the next step will be advance reading copies (ARCs)–I think. Those will be actual paperback books, essential rough drafts of the book in its final form. They’re sent out to reviewers and the like. From there, the final step is the book itself.
We’re getting close!