Today is the first day of the editing stage for Cat’s Eyes. Before I can begin, I have to read the story in its entirety. There are only fifteen chapters, and I’ve already read the first five chapters, so I can’t see a problem with getting this finished by the end of the weekend.

In between reading sessions, which I can’t seem to read for more than an hour at a time (this has nothing to do with the story, it’s just the way I am), I will prepare the crits I’ve received to date. I’ve decided to use plastic sleeves and divide the crits into chapters, so I’ll have 15 piles. This will be easier to handle.

Some of the chapters only need light editing; fixing typos, getting rid of sentence splices, and ensuring the most powerful words (which is sometimes the simplest word) are used.

Other chapters need a lot of work, even rewriting. I’ve decided to change the names of two of the main characters after a certain point in the story as I have two more stories planned and need to make this change. I know this sounds strange, but those of you who have read the story might understand what I mean. There are at least two scenes that I was never happy with and the readers have confirmed by doubt, so both of those need a lot of work. And…the ending will change. A friend echoed my own thoughts on how the story ends. No one else complained about it. In fact, I’ve received a lot of positive feedback. However, I believe I have a moral obligation to set an example and encourage children who read my books to do the right thing, and it’s for this reason that I will make a change to the ending.

Okay, this break has been long enough. I must publish this post and get back to reading.

Filed under: Cat's Eyes, My Writing: