I’m learning new terminology. A mock galley is an edited copy of my manuscript printed out in the book font and format, using the same page size and margins so it looks pretty much the way the book is going to look once it’s printed. That’s where I am now in the editing process. I’m going over the “mock galley,” checking the manuscript for errors, one last time and making sure that it reads the way I want it to.

This is my last chance to make changes and after the number of times I’ve read through this, one would think I couldn’t possibly find anything else to change. Wrong! I’m still finding minor changes I want to make. Mostly, it’s places where I want to delve deeper into the character’s POV. I think getting inside the characters head strengthens the story and adds depth to the characters.

But will my editor like the changes?

Guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Megan took another step back and bumped into the recliner again. She sat on the arm and looked up. “But if Steve’s still pursuing the protein therapy research, why won’t you work with him? He has resources I could never match, and he can get you into clinical trials I can’t.”

“I won’t work with Steve Weldon. Not now. Not ever.” He pulled her to her feet. His eyes were dark. Intense. “I want to work with you–that is if Timmons didn’t take everything. He didn’t, did he?”

He still held onto her hands, and she didn’t have the strength or the desire to pull free. His cool, smooth skin pressed against her palms, warming her from the inside out.

“Just about,” she said, and there was an unintentional invitation in her voice.

There was strength in Vincent’s grip but no calluses on his palms. He might work out, but he didn’t work with his hands.

Damn, if she hadn’t always been attracted to the witty, cerebral types. But she did not want to be attracted to Vincent. He had XP and came with more baggage than a 747. And she had enough emotional baggage of her own.

She cleared her throat. “The files you saw on the dining room table the other night were in a back storage room,” she said, thankful her voice sounded normal. No lingering traces of seductive huskiness. No unconscious invitations. “I had boxes stacked in front of the door so the colonel didn’t know the door was there. But it’ll take months to transfer the raw data into another computer, and that’s all there is. Raw data. Hand-written notes, unofficial reports, and previously published articles and files from the internet.”

He released a tired sigh and her hands. Megan’s heart gave a little lurch she tried to ignore. Despite the risk of heartbreak, she was drawn to Vincent–his intelligence, his tenacity and wit, but most of all, to his loneliness. She could see it when she met his eyes—-feel it in her own heart.

Vincent looked away, as though he’d seen something in her eyes that scared him as well.

“At least we have something to work with,” he said tiredly. “Why don’t you show me what you have and then make me a list of what you need? I can’t replace the actual research, but I can get you a new computer and whatever else you might need from Lifeblood’s labs.” Then he headed down the hall toward the basement as though it was a done deal.

Megan rushed to catch up.

“I’m glad you prefer working with me over Steve,” she said, “but I don’t like being manipulated. You should have told me he was still interested in XP research.”

“He’s not. That’s why I came to you.” Vincent didn’t spare her a second glance as he opened the basement door and stepped down. The sound of his boot heels striking wood echoed up the steps as he disappeared into the darkness.

“But–” Megan switched on the light and hurried after him.

“The first thing you need down here is a table and some chairs,” he said when he saw the stacks of unorganized data and reams of paper scattered across the floor.

“I have a desk.” She pointed to where her monitor and keyboard still sat. The hard drive was gone. Loose cables dangled to the floor.

“We need room to spread out. Do you mind if I bring the table and chairs down from the kitchen?”

“No.” She turned back toward the stairs. “I’ll help you bring them down.” It would give her something to do while she sorted through the confused thoughts and emotions tumbling around inside her head.

Vincent touched her arm and heat shot straight to her belly, turning her insides all warm and fuzzy.

Warm and fuzzy was not good.

Warm and fuzzy made her think of more than just heated sex. It made her think of cozy evenings snuggled up under a blanket and shared feelings. It made her long for an emotional connection she couldn’t risk. Not with Vincent. Not with a man who could potentially die a slow, lingering death.

“I’ll get it.” He let go of her arm and stepped back. “You start going through those papers and find that report you wrote comparing XP to vampire myths and legends. I’d be interested in seeing it if you still have it.”

He turned to go back up the stairs and Megan shivered. Why had Steve mentioned the vampire report to Vincent? And why was Vincent so interested in seeing it?

Vincent the Vampire.

I came home from the beach on Sunday 7/26 and found my first round of edits waiting in my email box. Of course, I was terrified. I had no idea how bad it was going to be or the magnitude of the changes my editor was going to request. But, as it turned out, it wasn’t that bad.

I started making the changes Sunday night and worked on them again Monday night after my day job and then again tonight when I got off work. And I completed the task by 10:30 Tuesday and sent the revisions back to Lill.

The biggest change I had to make was reworking my explanation on a vampires ability to travel at such high rates of speed. I had gone into great detail using Einstein’s theory of relativity and 4th dimensional travel that my editor thought too weighty and technical. In short, she didn’t think it added anything to the story. So, I used the KISS method of explaining. Keep it simple stupid. Basically, I just kept it as simple as possible and limited my explanation and details. I’m anxious to hear what Lill thinks of the changes.

I also had to reduce some of my scientific detail and change a few other minor things, and there were some POV switches that Lill fixed and some spelling problems, but overall, there weren’t as many problems as I expected. Especially considering the number of “red” marks I get on a single chapter whenever I have my critique partner, Amy Corwin, look at something.

But I guess all those red marks I got from my critique partners on this book, Amy Corwin and Jenna Black paid off. Thanks Amy and Jenna!http://www.jennablack.comhttp://www.amycorwin.com

Just got an email from my editor, Lill. And if all goes as expected, I should get my edits tomorrow. Then, the editing process begins!

I’m not sure what to expect. I’m not even sure how extensive the edits are or what she wants changed, but I’m looking forward to moving forward and getting something accomplished.

I just hope I can do the job she expects and that the manuscript will be better after the changes are made. I’m so looking forward to holding my first, printed book in my hands. Maybe then, it’ll start to feel real.

I feel as if I’m in limbo.

I am working on a sequel to Out of the Darkness. This will be Tina’s story and I’m calling it Into the Light. But it’s hard to get the creative juices flowing when I’m not sure how some of the editorial changes my editor is going to want for OTD will affect ITL.

Minor changes won’t affect how I write the second story, but if she suggests something major, like, lets say a name change, then that could be a problem. Of course, I can always do edit, select all, and change, but I’d rather not do that if I don’t have to. Technology isn’t always my friend and I’ve made changes like that before only to proofread later and find weird text changes, despite selecting “whole word only” and “match case.”

So, those kinds of edits are things I’d rather avoid if I can. But I am writing. I’m just slow. Then again, I’ve never been the world’s fastest writer. Life and my “real” job have a tendency to get in the way of my fun job. And writing is fun. I love it when everything clicks and I know exactly what comes next. It’s when I don’t know what’s coming next that I hate. And that usually happens in the middle. And I hate the middle. That dreaded sagging middle.

One thing I have learned about myself as a writer is that I don’t mind edits. In fact, I sometimes think I’d rather edit than create. Once I finish a book, I sometimes edit it to death because I can always find some way to make it better. I think I’m anal that way.

I once opened a fortune cookie and it said, “Be satisfied with one chapter at a time.”

I taped it to the base of my monitor and have taken the advice to heart. I think maybe that’s one reason I write so slowly. I try to perfect each chapter before moving on and then I just get bogged down. And then, once I finish a manuscript, I still want to edit it to death. So, that’s one reason I don’t think I’ll have a problem making line edits. I think what’s going to drive me bonkers is seeing mistakes I didn’t catch myself after the thousands of times I proofread it!

So, for me right now, the biggest problem I’m having with my writing career is waiting.

I can’t say it’s easy.

The Blurb:

Her research could cure his dark hunger if a covert government agent doesn’t get to her first.

Vincent Maxwell is a vampire with a conscience searching for a cure to his dark hunger. But when a scientist looking to create vampire soldiers captures and kills a fellow vampire, Vincent seeks out Dr. Megan Harper.

While researching xeroderm pigmentosum, a light sensitivity disorder, Dr.Harper discovered a link to vampirism and she could hold a key to a cure and the answers to Gerard’s death. But getting close to the beautiful scientist could endanger both their lives.

When researcher Dr. Megan Harper meets Vincent Maxwell, she believes he suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum, the genetic disease that killed her sister. Sensing a deep loneliness within the handsome man, Megan offers friendship and access to her research files hoping he will offer her a position in his company. But they soon become more than friends and Megan learns the horrifying truth. She’s entered the dark and unseen world of vampires and Vincent is her only hope of survival.

After 13 years of writing, I finally got the email on May 10th of this year. And let me tell you, it was the best mother’s day gift ever!

Lill Farrell from The Wild Rose Press sent me an email to let me know that my request for contract on my paranormal romance, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, had been accepted for publication!

After so many years of writing, one would think that I would have been thrilled, but I’m holding off on the happy dance because I’ve been this close to publication before and if fell through. Still, I am very optimistic and smiling widely.

In late 2006 I went through two rounds of revisions for Out of the Darkness (then called something else) with an editor from a well-known New York publisher, but before any contracts were signed, the editor moved to a different line and the editor who took her place requested different changes to the story. By the time I made those changes (which were totally different from the changes requested by the first editor) the second editor “just wasn’t in love with the story” and she asked if I could send her something else.

Well, I’m not the world’s fastest writer. I have a day job as a radiologic technologist/mammographer that actually pays the bills, so I didn’t have anything new to send her. And time passed and I moved on.

Then in 2008, I sent my manuscript to The Wild Rose Press because my critique partner, Regency and mystery writer, Amy Corwin (http://www.amycorwin.com/) had had some success with TWRP and suggested I send my manuscript to them. And so I did. And I waited.

And my luck being what it is, the editor I sent it to at TWRP left. But then I was asked to send manuscript to another editor in November 2008 and I got a positive answer in May, faster than I had ever heard from other publishers. Wow!

I’ve already signed the contracts and filled out numerous forms: manuscript information sheets, author information sheets, and a marketing form and now I’m just waiting for my first edits to arrive so I can get started making Out of the Darkness into the version that will get published in both e-format and print.

I’ve also set up a myspace page at www.myspace.com/lillygayle and have contracted agwdesigns at http://www.agwdesigns.com/ to design my web page. When the page is completed, the web address will be http://www.lillygayle.com/, so check that site often to see when it’s up and running! I can’t wait to see it.

And I can’t wait to see my book in print!

Until then, I’ll post updates on what happens when a new author finally gets a contract. I really don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m willing to learn on the job!

And I’ll keep you posted on my progress!