The Charmstone Edits

I'm working on the first edits of my romantic suspense, "The Charmstone," scheduled for release next April. I actually enjoyed the process, though it was made a bit more time intensive because the manuscript had undergone some revision since it was first submitted. As a result, I had to go through the edited copy and the revised copy page by page by page, word for word making the changes. There were more than I remembered. Events in the first three chapters had been rearranged. A new chapter had been added at the end, and a chapter in the middle lengthened by half. In between were word or phrase changes, and some minor rewriting.

But I like that kind of intensely focused work. Turn off the phone, put on the coffee, hunker down, and just do it.

I'm not familiar with this edit software, though, have never seen it before, so I'm sure I gave my very thorough and capable editor, Diane Kirkle, fits with all my questions about how it worked. I hope I didn't make a mess of it. She hasn't said anything, so either I used it correctly or she's too polite to tell me how badly I screwed it up.

I also enjoyed reading the story again and becoming reacquainted with my characters, lapsed socialite Amanda Bell, and Navajo Cultural Center director, Durango Yazzie. They found themselves thrown together in Monument Valley, the remotest part of the Navajo Indian Reservation, and had to come to grips with exactly where in the world they belonged. Amanda, on a mission to fulfill her deceased father's last wish, turned her back on her life in a gated mansion in Beverly Hills. Durango, newly returned to the reservation, was committed to reconnecting with his Navajo heritage, a way of life he had previously cast aside.

They work it out, though, but not without a whole lot of turmoil. You'll see when you read the book.