Rewriting and adding content

Draft front cover of my book

I’m shocked that I’ve not posted on this site for almost eleven months, but I’m now back!  My excuse is that I was working on my non-fiction book Juggling Life, Kids & You which I am pleased to say is with the copy-editor and due back any day now.  

Reflections on the rewrite

When I said to people, ‘I’m editing my book’ Juggling Life, Kids & You, what I actually meant was ‘I’m rewriting and adding fresh content to my book’ .  That makes a big difference doesn’t it?  The structure had been there for a while, but the critique had suggested adding more content, creating a whole new chapter and rearranging some of the sections of the book to make it flow better.

I shouldn’t have worried that it took over a year to do the re-write; adding new content obviously would take longer than just editing existing content.  I realise from the comments I got last time, that some writers can be perfectionists (that’s me!) and some spend so much time on rewriting a bit here and rewriting a bit there (that’s me).

As Bill99 suggested in one of this comments last year, what’s important is to make sure I have the reader in mind, as I add new content and change sentences, and make sure it’s what they would want to read.

What I’ve also realised is that the subject of my book is a moving target and I’m learning new ways of doing things all the time.  With this in mind, of course I’m going to want to change what I’ve written; however, I somehow knew when to I draw the line and say ‘stop, it’s time to send it to the copy-editor!’

Until next time…

Sandra