Scissors Cutting (c) Pam Roth

My project this week? Seeing how much I can cut out of a book. It’s not something I’ve never had to do before, so this is definitely a learning experience. Luckily, I have two incredible editors and a very patient agent who are going to help teach me how to spot the words/phrases/paragraphs/scenes that may have seemed necessary while I wrote it but are actually… not.

This is where holding on to that saying, “Kill your darlings,” comes in handy. Because, think about it. If you put a character or even a word into your book, it becomes a darling in some sense. Cutting them is never easy.

This is one of the MANY reasons it is so important to find people to work with who you trust and whose input you can recognize as valuable even when you start falling into that emotional, defensive hole where everyone is wrong and your book is perfect, damnit! It’s not, but it will get close if you trust the editors and the agent who have taken you under their wing.

Now, I take a deep breath, turn on Track Changes, and hope for some magical fairy to come along and highlight all the things I should cut so I don’t have to think about it…