Masquerade - second draft begins

I had done the initial read through of MASQUERADE for my second draft edit a while back and typed all the notes and comments and made some changes in the Word document already. This morning I debated whether to do the second draft of this book and hit the potential release date of mid-January, or shelve it and do the second draft of Covet, which is the first story in my new short series of erotic vampire romances, so I can get that released late this year. In the end, I decided not to make Vampires Realm fans wait and that I had said I would stick to my schedule like a good girl because that was what worked best for me. I always want to get books out quicker than is really possible but it's something I'm learning to deal with as I really need to build in more time between completing a book and its release date!

I think I wanted to skip Masquerade because I knew that the first few chapters, particularly the first one, were going to be a tough editing job. There were things to move around, points to address to make everything flow a little more smoothly, and stuff to change completely to make the hero and heroine start off on a better foot and clarify a few things. It's a tricky start to a novel as the heroine is mightily annoyed, mostly at herself but she's aiming her rage at the hero because he's done something to piss her off. Never an easy scenario to start with, especially when the first chapter is where you're supposed to grab the reader and hold their attention. Have faith, my lovely readers, it may start out with a bit of a scuffle between heroine and hero, but all will reveal itself in time.

My editing today took me around 25 pages into a 240 page document. I made it past the first chapter but I'll read it back first thing tomorrow and the ensuing fight scene, to make sure that it's all fine now and ready to rest for a while until I do the polish on the book at a later date. Once I'm happy with it, I can crack on with editing the rest of the book. Most of it is in good shape with only a few tweaks and things needed. I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

:)