Six Reasons To Seek Outside Help When Editing YOUR MS

Okay guys, let's say you've - like me - been a HUGE fan of writing for a long time. You've even started several books over the course of five or six years, but - also like me - you've only actually finished one or two full manuscripts. When I say 'finished', I mean your MS is 80k or more words.

Now, let's say you've - like me - called yourself editing it on your own, revised, changed, went over it with a fine-tooth comb and FINALLY, you think you've gotten it SO perfect, you think it couldn't get any better if some form of deity has written it themselves -

 I'll get into the several reasons why you'd be wrong in a second. -

and you think, 'Yes, I'm going to send off a few query letters'.

No. Just no. No matter who you are, what you write, published, unpublished, Indie or self-pubbed - SOMEONE ELSE - meaning not YOU - NEEDS TO TAKE  A LOOK AT YOUR MANUSCRIPT AND QUERY LETTER BEFORE YOU SEND ANYTHING OFF TO ANYONE. 

Reasons why: 

1. As authors, we already think what we write is amazing. We think we're so genius, G-d has touched us with the ability to write magnificent MS's and any agent/publishing house would be lucky to sign us. *Shakes head* Sadly, no. 
2. Not everything you write is a hit, not everything you write is sell-able, there isn't a market for everything you write - NOT EVERYTHING YOU WRITE IS GOOD. And yes, it chafes your a*s like a fluffer-nutter and no, people may not always be kind when telling you these sorts of things but you HAVE to hear it sometime.
3. Other people - once again, not YOU - know what they like to read, how they like to read and what they want to feel when they read. You cannot, cannot, cannot trust your own eyes, emotions and judgement when it comes to editing your MS. Obviously, you're biased. You wrote it, therefore you love it. 
4. When you edit your own MS's, there are going to be several mistakes that you missed, overlooked - or sometimes you may leave them on purpose (builds character for your MC or it is how a certain character in your MS speaks) sometimes those work and sometimes they don't. More often than not, they don't. 
5. You may not notice it, but you can easily over-write a MS. Case in point: my very own first MS is north of 140k words. No publisher ANYWHERE is going to pick up a debut more than 100k words. As evidence of my MS STILL lying untouched on my hard drive. Also, too many adjectives, similies, metaphors - all those add up in word count. And too many words is a problem. Ideal MS length is between 80k and 110k and 110k is pushing it. Books that are too long probably won't get read. No one wants to be intimidated by the size of a book on a shelf before picking it up.
6. Your MS can ALWAYS get better. You may be among one of the most creative minds on the planet but no one is perfect and everything can get better. A little tweak here, a revision there can make any great MS amazing. Don't be too proud. Every book gets edited before publishing and rather than seeing a bunch of red ink all over your precious baby, take the time and have a few friends peruse it. Have some margaritas with your girlfriends, a couple beers with the guys, lunch with your author friend or a night out with your bookclub and get it done. 

Prime example: I haven't touched my first MS in months because of Caylee and Caleb. I, too, thought it was perfect, sent off dozens of badly written queries for it and got sad like clockwork over the next 6-12 weeks when I got all my NO's and refusals - or didn't get any, in some cases. The moment I went back and started reading the first chapter, I found twelve mistakes in the first 750 words. It. Was. Crap. Crap, Shit, Garbage, a Hot Toddy - whatever you prefer to call it. Why, you ask? Because I didn't get anyone to look over my query BEFORE I sent it and I didn't let my impromptu editor look at the full body of work BEFORE I stamped it as done. Now, I'm in the middle of shaving about 80 thousand words off it - words, I now know I did NOT need - and making it presentable. Which is just a BUNCH of fun.

To avoid hacking away at your precious MS - like I am - be cautious when you write and pay closer attention when editing if you choose to self-edit. As you know, I am still unpublished and in no way should my reasons be followed to the T but  it is because I remain unpublished that I'm almost 80% sure that you should at least have someone take a second - or twelfth - look at your MS and/or Query letter.

Halfway To The Grave by Jeaniene Frost

**FOUR STARS**

**Review Originally Posted 4/22/2012**
***Spoilage***

First off, Bones is hawwwt and I'm in love.

I was very excited to start this series, especially with all of the positive feedback I've been hearing. I have to say, I was not disappointed at all. Cat and Bones have this relationship - that although it's not exactly...how to say this? not exactly traditional - I must say I want one. Cat has this air about her, something undeniably sexy and appealing. Although as I read I wasn't expecting Cat to be so...inexperienced or bashful. The way she blushed at any sexual comment or innuendo kind of threw me off a bit at first but once Bones snatched her and trained her to be his secret weapon, she stopped that really, really quick.

Pros: I like that Frost has put a twist of sorts on the characteristics of vampires in these books. For starters, I like that they can go out in sunlight and it doesn't kill them. I like that once they die, their bodies age to their "true" age - that is something I'd never seen before and it was a nice touch. I also liked that their eyes glow with emotion, although kind of predictable - it's nice all the same. THE FACT THAT ONLY THE NEW AND FRESH VAMPS ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN REPRODUCE!!! THIS! That was one of the things I REALLY, really liked. Because honestly, they're dead. Their hearts don't beat and their sperm count is basically nonexistent.

The plot-line was GREAT. The bad guy was just so perfect and everything he was doing with the whole sex slavery ring was genius. I was not expecting it to go that far and it was so awesome, I seriously enjoyed it.

Sex scenes - although there was really only one it slayed me.

Cat getting all tough and kick-ass was predictable but also, didn't take away from the story.

Cons: Why silver? Silver can kill soooo many things in the world of PNR/Fantasy books. I don't like that I hopped back on the silver train again, but it didn't take away from the greatness of the book whatsoever for me so that was good.

It kind of reminded me a touch of Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan. The whole ass kicking red-head with her vamp "sidekick", if you will. And the inclusion of the secret branch of FBI/CIA at the end kind of bummed me out because once again, that was a little too predictable.

The whole all-bodily-fluids-are-red thing. And I mean ALL. It kind of Creeped me out a LOT when I read that.

All in all, a GREAT read and I would certainly recommend it to anyone looking for an action-filled great book about vamps and a half-vamp.