Learning from my mistakes

Author’s notes …

I noticed my first mistake after I’d published the first book (The Priest). I’d underestimated my audience. I’d left too little time for Jared and Paul to be working actively in the ministry before they had a chance to be named bishop. By my original timeline, they would have been 25 or 26 years old. “Nobody’ll notice that,” I foolishly thought. WRONG! It was pointed out in my first ever review. Lesson learned: readers love to find (and point out) errors!

As a result, I had to rewrite the novel with a whole new timeline. That’s why the copyright page lists it as “Second Edition.” From that point on, every detail in my books has had to be meticulously researched. My database of timelines, characters, settings and locales, and even cars has become extensive. All the houses and apartments are based on real (for sale or lease) places on real streets in real cities. And, as a point of honor, characters’ locations are consistent across all four books! That fact has often made the stories more difficult to write (although ultimately more interesting).

Are there errors in the books? I’m certain there are, even though every book has gone through multiple intense reviews. When I’ve completed a chapter, I read it aloud and make corrections and adjustments. Then it goes to Craig who scans it again for errors in format or content and makes suggestions regarding characters and/or story. When the novel is complete, it goes to my editor, Michelle Barker, for a story edit.

She reads the entire novel, then, a second time, and critiques not only the story details but the characters and settings as well. Her work generally results in a rewrite of at least some chapters, or it could mean adding or deleting chapters, as well as hundreds of little corrections. Typically, she’ll have up to a half dozen comments on each page of the book, along with a 10–12-page single-spaced commentary on the entirety. It also goes to my beta readers for feedback and comments.

Once the story edit changes are complete, the novel goes back to her for a line edit. She goes through the entire work line by line and removes extraneous material. In The Bishop, she excised 20,000 words.

It’s not done yet. Once I get it back, I review each chapter for mistakes in grammar, etc., and then I read it through entirely once again out loud with my red pen. For The Bishop, there may have been as many as a hundred tiny adjustments. Only then is the book assembled into the template that will go to the printer.

Did we catch everything? I guarantee that we didn’t. One good thing about using KDP to print and market the Series: when you catch something wrong and let me know, I can make the change in the manuscript, resubmit it, and nobody’ll be the wiser!

Are you sure you want to write a book???