Recently I finished my next novel titled “Spirit Walk” and for the past week I’ve been editing this book and it seems like the most tedious part of the writing process. I have heard about people even going as far as rewriting their entire manuscript. I’m sorry but after writing this story for months and by the way I tend to edit while I write. I just can’t see myself rewriting this entire book that is over three hundred pages long. I will admit that I have added some extra things to my story because I had some new ideas that I wanted to add to it and there were some parts of the story that I wanted to expand on but that’s as far as I will go.

Is it really necessary to rewrite the entire book when editing? I don’t think so. I think it is just a matter of what each writer wants for their story. If you feel it’s necessary to rewrite the entire book than that is your prerogative. If certain things that you wrote just doesn’t work for you and you’re not satisfied with the finished product, then maybe it is necessary to rewrite the book. But for myself, I usually have a clear cut idea in my mind of what I want to write before I dive in. I also write an outline of the entire story beforehand. Believe me, outlines help a great deal. It gives you a map to everything you’re going to write in your story.

I have been fighting with myself about whether to do my own editing or having a professional do it. If you have the money to hire a professional editor than please do so but if your short on cash than I say go on ahead and try to tackle it yourself. But if you do edit your own book, make sure you either have great grammar skills or buy yourself some professional editing software because it’s not an easy job. I did pretty well in College English 101 and 102 but I’m forty-eight years old now. I don’t remember half of what I learned in those classes. Recently I stumbled upon an add on for Microsoft Word called Grammarly that I’ve been using to edit my grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes for this book and it works very well. There is the basic free version that will actually scan your entire document and point out each grammar mistake and then there is the paid version that will reveal the most advanced issues for $29.95 per month. I highly recommend it.

I’m almost finished editing this book and I am also thinking about changing the title again, I’ve got a list of new titles that I’m considering. So when the book comes out with a different title than I previously mentioned, don’t worry because I am changing it and I’m letting you know beforehand. There’s just something about the name Spirit Walk that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t know why. I can’t wait until I’m done with this because I’m ready to start on my next novel “The Human”. I still might decide to let a professional editor handle my book but it depends on how much it’ll cost, whether or not I plan to continue self- publishing or if I plan to go with traditional publishing. I’m really anxious to get this book on the market but I may at least try to

go with traditional publishing first and if I can’t do it that way (because let’s face it…it’s really hard to get published or get an agent to look at your work and actually accept it) then I will self -publish as a last resort. Either way, this book will be published. I hope you will enjoy it. I will keep you posted on my progress. Have a great week…