Earlier this month I sent off the manuscript for the 2nd edition of my travel guide (due out December 2010). It was a lovely feeling to have it off my plate, for the time being anyhow. Having been through this process before, I knew what was coming…the editing process. And it began today with an email from my editor.
Now, with a non-fiction book, there is great importance placed on how the book is organized. With a travel book this may be even more important. How you’re organizing entries by type, geography, etc. needs to be consistent throughout the book. But, one of the biggest things I struggle with when writing my book is “seeing” how it will look in the end. I’m a very visual person, so I need to see things before they can make sense to me. The 2nd edition of this book has a brand new format (and less words, try downsizing from 90K to 50K, but that’s another blog topic!) and so not only did I need to “see” a new layout for my book, I didn’t have another format to look at. Needless to say, it was a tough process. So, now, in addition to editing content, I’m also helping to re-organize material in a more reader-friendly way.
Ahhh…the joys of writing! But, it will look so good when it’s done and then, after all of the hard work, someone can write on Amazon that it reads like a very boring high school essay. Well, pooh.