My book

The days of sleeping in until 7:00 a.m. are over. Last week I received notes on the latest draft of my manuscript and found a freelance editor. Now it's time to start waking up at 5:00 a.m. again and writing before going to the office.

One screenwriter/director friend asked me why would I work with a freelance editor. She thought one writes a book, finds an agent, agent sends it to publishers, editor at publishing house buys book and edits it.

Back in the day a mainstream fiction writer with potential might get a deal. Now that manuscript better be close to ready. The marketing dept. has to believe they can actually sell the book. I don't have a MFA, did not major in creative writing, and I have never written a novel before. I feel more comfortable having an editor look at my ms before I start sending it to agents. I see it as an investment in my future. The editor does not re-write the book. She does basically what I do when I read scripts for our projects, give extensive notes.

I am really excited about working with my editor. Until last year, she worked at a major publishing house. She is not cheap but at least she isn't asking for an outrageous amount like the other editor I spoke to. She is a better fit since she worked mostly in commercial fiction and the other editor's background was in literary fiction.

Her comments were very similar to the other two I received last week. Very positive overall but there are some structure problems. For example, in the beginning I don't provide enough info so non-industry insiders will get the whole Hollywood scene and rush too quickly through it. However, it still takes too long to get to the heart of the book. So basically I have the worst of both worlds. Ugh. She will be sending me an editorial report next month. In the meantime I am going to fix some grammar issues.

I haven't touched the ms in five weeks. Looking forward to getting back into it...and a little nervous.