The revision process is a lot of back and forth between me and my editor, especially since my editor lives in New York. My editor sent me back her revisions of my new book, Eyewitness to Healing, on October 12. Here’s what I did to prepare the manuscript to send it back to her! Whew!

I Sent My Manuscript to My Editor to Edit

Sending off my manuscript to my editor has to sides to it: glad I’m done then can’t wait to get it back. Originally, I was supposed to get it back on August 7, but I had to delay a couple days.

When I get a revised manuscript back from my editor, I’m nervous. I’ve worked with my editor on the last five books. When she sent me back Just Another Square Dance Caller, she basically wanted a totally rewrite. So, I went to Colorado for two weeks and rewrote it, adding myself to Marshall Flippo’s biography.

So, as I waited for the revised manuscript, I got more nervous as she kept delaying. When I did get it, I was to return it to her with the revisions complete on August 20. She would look it over and get it back to me for my final approval on October 15 and we would complete the project on October 22. That didn’t work.

She kept delaying getting me the revised manuscript. I wondered, “Is it that bad?” At one point, we planned for her to send it to me on September 7. Then she emailed me and asked if I really wanted it before our Germany trip.

I replied, “No, because it would haunt me, sitting on my laptop the whole trip, making me uncomfortable wanting to work on it when we would be dancing or sightseeing, so we delayed it until after we got home on September 29. But again she delayed it.

I finally got it on October 9, finding out she had been sick and that had caused the delay. Whew! My worries for nothing. So my work began.

Looked at Her Revisions

First, my editor deleted 16,000 words of the manuscript. When I saw that, I almost fainted. That’s more than a whole poetry book of mine! After a lot of grumbling to Lin and friends, I decided I paid her a lot of money to edit this book. This is our sixth book, so I have to trust her.

Next, I couldn’t respond to her comments in the document. We always carry on a conversation through the comments, so this problem hindered me a lot. But being so anxious to get started, I continued even though I couldn’t respond through the first nine chapters. Then I emailed her, and we solved the problem, but I had to go back and redo the first nine chapters because I needed to respond to her comments.

Because of the emotional topic in this book, I had to step away from the manuscript often and take a break. Then Lin and my 15th anniversary came up and we went to the beach for a couple days. I needed the time away from it.

As I looked at her revisions throughout the chapters, I agreed with some of her deletions because of repetition, but she deleted some key parts, I thought. So I pondered and prayed about how to handle that. So, I decided to make a “Deleted” file and put everything in there for future reference. Also many authors use deleted scenes and information as material to give to their email list. So if you are on my email list, you will see some of the parts deleted.

One suggestion my editor had: put a Trigger Warning in the beginning. I so agree because I wouldn’t want anyone to be triggered and hurt by a book that I want to be a helpful tool.

Finally, I finished revising the whole manuscript with her suggesstions.

My Last Read-Through

Because so much of the manuscript had been deleted, I knew I had to do a last read through. As I’ve done that, I took notes about any problem areas.

I have held onto one suggestion that was made several months ago from summary from the “Let’s fix Stories Podcast” I did in February 2026: remember my poetic instinct. So I wrote on that note at the top of the note-taking page, “What about poetry?” They said in the summary they sent me, “Your poetry background is a strong advantage. Keep leaning into your unique writing style like this.” So, as I reread my manuscript, I kept circling back to that idea.

I wrote a poem specifically for this book, and she cut it! OMG! Last night when I couldn’t sleep, I figured a way to incorporate it back into the manuscript. We’ll see what you think.

As I went through it chapter by chapter, I saw areas I needed to address. I realized one event happened way to soon in the story and needed to be moved—but where? Last night, it came to me where I can move it.

This book alternates chapters between to characters—Ellie and Laura. To keep their information straight, I created a timeline for each, printed it up and kept it in front me as I reread.

Originally when I wrote the ending, it felt contrived and not authentic. My editor had major issues with it, so I knew I had a problem. All during October I pondered what to do. It had to be real, not a fixed answer. This is such a serious topic, I couldn’t be formulaic and just arrive at a pat answer. In the middle of a recovery meeting this weekend, I came up with a real ending. We’ll see what you think.

Sending the Manuscript Back to My Editor With Ideas

In my notes, I have listed several items I need to share with my editor when I send the manuscript back:
• This book is written in the genre of auto fiction (autobiography fiction). After thinking about the specific genre, I researched and found out that “stream of consciousness” can be used in this genre. Often I have used this device in the book because of the nature of the serious topic with both main characters reliving their childhoods and past. That’s the way we think!
• There was a timeline issue, but I figured a way to solve that. I want to see if the editor agrees.
• My editor suggested listing the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and Codependents Anonymous in the beginning of the book. I often talk to Lin about my book production. He suggested putting them in the back. Then I had the idea of using footnotes on the page where the individual step is referenced. We’ll see what she says. I for sure will do that with the e-book.

Finally,

Hopefully I will get the manuscript back to her Monday or Tuesday of this week. My editor will return it to me to let me know if I made the changes she envisioned. Hopefully I have.

This is the process of working with an editor. We have never met face-to-face—only through emails and our conversation through comments on the manuscript. I feel confident about our collaborations because out of the five books we have worked on together, all five have won several awards. To me that shows the success of our work together.

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My Newest Books

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Buy My Audio Books:

This Tumbleweed Landed

Let Me Tell You a Story 

Hair on Fire: A Heartwarming & Humorous Memoir Audiobook

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