First Edit

My “cooling-off period” ended almost a month ago. Now I’m back at it with my first line of defense - my wife, Kim.

Chilling in Summer

The whole point of the six-week cooling-off period was so that I could forget as much as possible about the book. That helps when I get back to editing. So, what have I been doing? I spent almost two weeks in Orlando watching a couple of my grandkids. It was so much fun, but tiring. That gave my daughter and son-in-law time to bond with their newborn, who arrived in Orlando a day or two before Kim and I did. The Airbnb we rented was very kid-friendly and there was never a lack of something for the one-year-old and three-year-old to do. And it was hard on everyone when we had to leave. It was also the first time I ever drove to/from Orlando. I’d always been a wuss about it before and flew from home in Virginia, but it was not too terrible.

I also spent some time getting reacquainted with software/coding, which I really haven’t done at all since I retired from Microsoft back in September of 2025. It’s been fun, and I’m still doing that, too.

What about all that stuff you got into over the winter and spring?

I fired up the forge in late spring for the first time and tried blacksmithing a wall hook. I have a long way to go, but it will need to wait. I think blacksmithing in northern Virginia is more of a fall/winter thing - that thing gets hot.

And what about the writing?

Ah yes. The first thing both Kim and I did was to re-read the book from cover to cover, she more quickly than me. She also got in a couple of rounds of editing, so I guess she’s been through it three times now since we started back in early August. Now, we’re going through it together, making changes as we go along to tighten up the prose and make it more understandable/coherent. We just finished Act 1 on Saturday and will be moving into Act 2 (of 3) today.

Then what?

Next week I’ll be soliciting beta readers. If you want to join us, let me know! I’ll be sending out the preliminary questions to prospective readers around September 8th.

Until next time, Happy Reading!