The face of my manuscript

Well, here it is. On the surface, it looks worse for wear. But on the inside, it is becoming meatier and more meaningful than ever. This here is the final page of the recently re-posted 'woman in the supermarket' story. Now, while I thought it was "pretty orright" and so did other commenters here... it hadn't received the fine tooth-comb from my Editor. Let me just say, it is already vastly different, even from the re-post I did last week. Eeek! This is going to be a long and winding road, this 'ere editing stage.

Thanks to Dad's - my Editor ;) - gentle and frank guidance, I am teasing out the many concepts that I have managed to capture from my head and plonk on paper. Now, I am being challenged to really confront what I have really been writing. They are no longer anonymous and enormously suggestive concepts... they are turning into compelling personal insights. Just when I thought I had explained myself fully and completely, I discovered I had barely scratched the surface of what I had really meant.

tau·tol·o·gy

/tɔˈtɒlədʒi/ Show Spelled[taw-tol-uh-jee] 

–noun, plural -gies. 1. needless repetition of an idea, esp. in words other than those of the immediate context, without imparting additional force or clearness.

I am being challenged with my apparent love of tautologies and sentence fragments that hiccup throughout the reader's train of thought. I am being pulled up left, right and centre on my technical structure. But most heartening, at the end of just about every chapter, I am receiving a "Wow. Powerful chapter." This is no easy feat to achieve with my wordy, worldly, well-read and learned Papa! So I am buoyed greatly to continue with renewed confidence about the whole project.

And although it is a hard slog - facing these words and these chapters yet again - I am loving every moment of the process.

Added to this, I received last night a most prized email address passed on to me by a mutual acquaintance (the best kind to have!). So I now have the contact details of the Marketing Director of a prominent Australian publishing house with an internationally recognised name, who is waiting for me to send an extract.

Excuse me while I go and vomit and then faint a little bit  try to maintain my composure but fail miserably  keep working hard so I don't keep her waiting too long.