Editing...my other novel

So many of you (well, all two of you right now - kisses!) know that I have an older novel making the rounds for free reading - the unedited version that has more holes than Swiss cheese. As a present for one of my Twitter followers, and because I actually like rereading this one, I decided to fix it up, make it spiffy and redo the HORRIBLE first chapter, and make it a little more presentable. My goal is to eventually put this one on Kindle for FREE as a self promotional tool to get my name out there to publishers with my trilogy kept in my bag of tricks. Especially since the trilogy steals a number of elements from the old novel except in a different plot and universe.

I wrote this novel for NaNoWriMo 2007, so yeah, it's a little dusty. And after I kept writing to it after NaNo, it's now over 160,000 words while missing chapters. It's an epic to say the least. It originally ended after about 80,000 words and then I decided to keep going. But in editing, I've noticed just how far I have come as a writer. My writing even 3.5 years ago wasn't as good as it is now, which is why I don't foresee ever getting this one - no matter how much I love it - published outside of a freebie. Besides the horrible first chapter, I've redone dialogue, entered new scenes, planned out new elements, redone characters, and tried to work with what I have. So far I've skipped ahead to the 44% mark and I'm going at a progress of about 10 pages a day of fixing things, and it will need several more edits.

I HATE EDITING MY OWN WORK! I'll be frank and say it. I'd rather write, but at the same time, I'm my biggest fan of this work because I love the plot and the characters... I even love talking about it, but it's a pain in the ass to have to go back and change stuff. Then again, in editing I find my errors. Plot holes, lack of characterization, out of character reactions, baaaaad dialogue. It's just hard to edit your own work, and it's hard for someone like me who dropped her English major in exchange for the world of political science (note - I do not regret this in the least) and doesn't know that many people with expert editing skills and the time to take pity.

So, for now, I'll keep at it, but maybe soon I can find an editor, eh?