Happy Hanukkah! Happy Solstice! Happy Yule! Happy Kwanzaa! Merry Christmas! Happy Festivus! Io Saturnalia!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

As of 2:05 p.m. Friday afternoon, I gained freedom from the shackles of my classroom to enjoy two weeks of winter break, far from teenage shenanigans and drama.

While my children watched Hercules, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish this break, and yes, I checked it twice. Mostly, the list is comprised of housekeeping chores, a trip to IKEA, painting my bedroom, and other various and sundry odds and ends. It’s a long list, too long to accomplish everything over this short period, especially with working a second job and partaking in holiday festivities.

However, there is one thing I WILL accomplish. At the top of the list, priority numero uno, is to color code my manuscript!

Last month, I received a full developmental edit from my editor (gosh, that sounds so official!). Included in this edit was an hour-long consultation session, which I emerged from with a plan!

She suggested to color code the story arcs of three characters and their progress through the last third of the novel. It seemed like the ending unravels a bit, so there is work to be done. That being said, I am proud to say my editor praised my manuscript, and claimed it was in top shape for this stage of the process. Even better than some other manuscripts she’s read. Golly gosh...

ANYWAY… Color code, you say? Why yes!

I am and always have been a visual person, so I thought this color coding method might be beneficial to me as a writer. After a bit of Internet research, I found that it’s a semi-popular way to edit a manuscript. How it may look differs from author to author. And ain’t that the beauty of the writing world? There’s no wrong way, and there’s no right way!

After a bit of thought, I decided I would not only color code the story arc of the three characters in the last third of the manuscript, but I would do so for the entire thing. Not only that, but I bought a pack of highlighters with 10 different colors, so I’m going all the way with this! Character arcs, police procedural elements, supernatural elements… and more!

Don’t worry, I’m not going to go overboard (tell that to my textbooks in college).

Hopefully, this will be a good method for me to contextualize and see the bigger picture of my work using these colors. Time for me to tighten up pacing, fill in some gaps, and make this the best manuscript I can!

Now, the trick is to not get sick of the story, because I really am anxious to see what you think of it!

Speaking of, look for a big announcement in next week’s blog post, as well as some New Year’s Resolutions!

Enjoy the holiday season, and don’t load up too much on that Christmas ham!

Ciao, friends!

Jenn