Day Ten: Meet Your Editor
My first interactions with Cook included a phone introduction to the person who would be my editor. Her name is Melanie, and she is my age exactly. Our conversation went well, leaving me excited to get started on the next phase of writing. But Melanie's was a walk-on role (for now!) because just before we were to get started, she informed me that she was moving and someone else wanted to take on my project. He was the Senior Developmental Editor at Cook (that's what his email signature read, I never asked him his official title. For me it read "Candi's Developmental Editor.") and Melanie said it was a bummer for her but good news for me. I still wanted to work with her, of course, but she said this was a good situation.
My new editor was Brian, and I soon realized that what I thought was my book when I turned it in was really just a suggestion. :) I have much respect for Brian, who dug through my manuscript and blew it apart, literally. We completely nixed every idea of chapters and divisions, and he took all of my thoughts and cut and pasted and moved them around 'til there were these little nuggets that rose to the surface, what he said were now our chapter ideas. It made my brain hurt.
What he wanted to help me rework was a straight retelling of Rick's death. He felt that there was much power in the story, too much to just tell the story straight through because we'd miss some of the big ideas that God placed in our laps. Of course seeing things change so much in such a short amount of time wasn't easy. But it was clear that the transformation taking place would definitely set up the massive amount of writing I still had to do, and in the end, the best story I could tell was shaping up.
When I say a massive amount of writing, this is no exaggeration. I didn't realize when I started just how long I'd still spend writing. This whole "published author" prospective felt more like a scholarship to attend college writing classes. To say I felt unqualified is an understatement. Little bits of self-doubt and discouragement started to creep up, my flesh reminding me that I never finished college, that I have no business doing something like this. In normal hours I don't listen to such nonsense. But some of these weren't normal hours. How could I imagine there would be no resistance along the way? This was OBVIOUSLY a story God wanted to be told. What made me think the getting there would be on a wide and unobstructed path?
The doubt was soon replaced with encouragement. After the initial pit-in-my-stomach feeling at seeing how much reworking and writing still had to be done, Brian helped me to tear off bite-sized pieces and gave me little nudges along the way, almost like my human walking stick, helping me to stay on the path. He was helping me "find my best voice" according to him, which I assumed meant the writing that made him say "YES!" when he read it.
After we looked through our big ideas, our chapter synopses and our flow, we put together an outline of what would now be my chapters. So, I started afresh. Chapter One.
Thank You, God, for clarity. For direction and for clear steps. The work in writing this book reminds me so much of my relationship with You. It's daunting sometimes, looking at how far I have to go. But You give me bite-sized pieces, one step at a time, and You tell me I can walk the road You've placed before me. I pray that I would be faithful to do the work- to spend time with You, meditate on Your truth, get better at being a person of love and charity and compassion. May we all take those steps, one at a time, to walk more closely with You. To look more like You. Amen.
Tomorrow, "Everything I Needed To Know I Learned At North Point Creative Meetings." This won't really be the title, but it could be. :)
- C