The Editing Process: Slacking

So, this last week kind of sucked when it came to editing. I didn't work on Dowsers at all. I instead worked on The Survival Agreement because it needed some work. I'm going to have to get started on editing my short story for that contest. I really need to get things done.

Basically I'm slacking. I did finish planning my two novels and created the cover art for it already. I'm actually pretty happy about it. I put aside my editing to do this so I really need to get back on track.

The Survival Agreement

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I thought I would post the cover art of my story, as I just published the first chapter on Wattpad last night. It was definitely outside my comfort zone but it did make it's way through a few people before I posted. Those people have been credited at the end of the chapter.

Feel free to check out my Wattpad: HERE - The first chapter of The Survival Agreement is available there. I'm hoping to update at least once a week on Sundays since this is a finished story. The only thing that takes time is when others are helping me by going through it.

This story is the first installment of my District Pluto series. And at the current moment, I'm editing the second story, The Morality Sentence. It's going to need some work - a lot of work.

Third Edits - Complete

These edits for The Survival Agreement didn't take me very long. While I know there are places that I can improve in, I need another opinion so I'll be actively looking for beta readers. I actually have a few that I've contacted but I'm waiting to hear back from them. This is the hardest part of the process for me. Finding someone to read my work.

I actually sent it to an editor. I was going to wait until after the beta readers but it already presented itself. I figured I'd see what they had to say about it until I find more beta readers. This is mostly a trial time for me. I don't know what process I would prefer first and which I would prefer second. I guess I'll see.

Second Edits - Done!

Finally! Finally my second edits are done for District Pluto: The Survival Agreement (formally known as The Sacrificial Son). I've even created a checklist for what needs to come next. My third and final round of edits (which is mostly a syntax edit) should be over quickly before I sent it out to Betas. Then I'll be editing two projects at once. The next story in the District Pluto series, Morality Sentence and my stand alone novel Dowsers. I'm hoping to get some of these out to Betas by the end of the year but I have a feeling that Dowers will take me a long time to edit but I really need to get back on it.

One thing I noticed when doing this second edit was that my characters were weak. While typing up my edits, I tried to fix this but I don't know how well I did. I guess I find out when I start the last round of my editing. If not, then hopefully my betas can help me with how they read. It occurred to me that my characters didn't even have the barest of description so I had to add that in. That was a struggle.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this short story/novella (possibly a novelette). I can already see the improvements compared to my very first draft. I finally have a name for it too, as I stated above. It's no longer Sacrificial Son, it is now titled The Survival Agreement. I already have the cover art made (and fixed). Actually, I have two. I have one that I picked out but I'll also ask the people who are my betas - if they want to. I'm not going to force that on them. I already have one in mind.