Daily Archives: February 6, 2019

The Joys—or Not—of Editing by Linda O. Johnston

The Joys—or Not—of Editing

I’m currently in the process of reviewing and responding to the copy edits for For a Good Paws, my fifth Barkery & Biscuits Mystery for Midnight Ink.  The process they use is a bit more complicated than many publishers I’ve dealt with recently since it involves making notes about things to change and not just redlining a clean version.  It takes more time, but it’s really not so bad.

I’m  a bit emotional about this one anyway, since it’ll be my last mystery for Midnight Ink because the publisher is sort of closing–at least not buying any more books, although they may continue to market existing ones for a while.  So far, I haven’t requested my rights back and probably won’t immediately. 

Will I do more Barkery mysteries?  I’d need to get at least some of my rights back to do that, and I’ve got other ideas to work on first–so I’m not sure. But if not, I’ll miss them!

These days, I’m sitting at my computer a lot working on those edits, which are due soon.  Recently, we’ve had a lot of rain, so sitting at my computer is a good place to be.  Since I’m in LA, I didn’t experience the Polar Vortex first hand but I’m sending hugs to those of you who did.  We have family near Chicago, so I got to hear some fairly scary stories—but all came out of it okay.  Hope that’s the same with you and yours as well.

And yes, the year marches on.  No, it’s not March yet, but it is almost Valentine’s Day.  So hug your sweeties, stay warm and dry—and read, write and/or edit some good books!