Hello all, it has been quiet a long time since my last post. July actually. I'd like to offer apologies for the long wait. I'd fully intended to keep up with my monthly letters but 'tis not what I was able to achieve. While I'd like to sight huuuge developments and lack of time as the main sources of this absence, unfortunately those are simply not the case. I've spent the last few months in a funk of sorts, the morbs as my husband has now taken to calling it. At first the word started out as a joke after he became obsessed with the movie Morbius, but when he found out the morbs was a legitimate phrase used in the Victorian era to describe sadness/melancholy well it is now his favorite thing to say.
So where did these morbs arise?
In July I contacted an editor. Through many delays, unprofessional admissions, and red flags I finally in November received my edits. And they were...without question, startling.
As an individual I would like to say I take pride in my ability to take criticism, so long as it is constructive. If I need improvement I'd like to know where, and how. However, the edits I received for Hollows contained almost no attempt to provide constructive critique. In a few places even containing some wordings that were unprofessional and demeaning. While the edits themselves seem to be---for the most part---adequate, the experience has left a sour taste.
A gut punch.
From the beginning of the experience in July to even now in December it's caused me stress, depression, and a lot of anxiety. It has been hard to make sense of the experience, and even harder to push past it.
After a few weeks to digest I decided to dive in nearing the end of November. While a good number of the edits are reasonable and needed, a large portion will have to be cut and ignored. Much of it the reasonings were never given, so I have to infer it by analyzing or even googling to see why they were done---and this is but the tip of the iceberg. This edit has been challenging for me, emotionally, physically, and artistically.
I, however, have an amazing support system of critique partners and beta readers. Who are willing to take another crack at the finished script soon, so that any final touches are made before I inevitably have to send it off to another editor.
I'll be doing this mostly for my own peace of mind, and with a different editor.
Hollows is probably nearing the upper 70-80% completion, I've got less than 10 chapters left to edit. Which means we may still be able to release the first quarter of 2023 as I'd hoped. Nothing set in stone yet, not until I get the manuscript back a second time, but hopefully this one will take far less than the three months the last did.
I hope to push past the morbs, to bring more updates and happier posts in the future.
Until then, over and out.
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