GH day 18 – aka ‘The First Fifty-Two Pages Day’

If you read yesterday’s blog about Facing the Beast, you know that I am starting the editing process for my Mind Sweeper manuscript. Before I talk about the first 52 pages of my manuscript, I wanted to back up and explain the Golden Heart® contest so that you understand why these pages are soooo important.

When entering the Golden Heart contest, authors can submit 55 pages. These pages include your actual manuscript as well as a synopsis or summary of the book and it must NOT exceed 55 pages. So for Mind Sweeper, I sent in 52 pages of my manuscript which was stopped at the end of chapter 5 and a three page synopsis. I also had to send in my full manuscript as ‘proof’ that it was indeed complete, although the full is not judged.

Now fast forward to today. I am starting to edit my manuscript (note that this is NOT the first time I have edited this and it will not be the last). So I am reading through those pages that I submitted for the contest. 52 pages. 52 pages that got me the final right? So should I touch them at all? I mean, I should read them and make sure that they are tight, that I didn’t do anything stupid like a typo or a dangling whatamacallit. But should I really mess with these pages?

Self doubt has reared its ugly head. So I plow forward, and promise myself that whatever the outcome, I not to panic, I will not to rip out whole scenes, I will not to wonder if someone did the math wrong on my entries scores and I shouldn’t have been a finalist after all!

And I get through the pages and place them carefully on my counter. And I remember why I love to write and I fall in love with my characters again. Now, I did notice a couple of little adjustments I am going to make in these pages, but nothing major. Don’t mess with a good thing for goodness sake!

Task # 19 – Read first 52 pages and don’t freak out √ COMPLETED

I can’t promise that I will respond as calmly tomorrow when I start editing the rest of the book!

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