Step Eleven: The Second Revision

You're Ready To Submit To Your Editor. Now What?

Here we are, halfway through the 22 STEPS series. What a landmark moment! As of the last post, I’ve now written 40,000 words non-fiction words about the writing of my 2025 novel. It clocked in at 110,000 — so that’s 150k since November 2024 on this title alone. The revolutions of writing the book, writing about writing the book, writing the book, and so on, has, without a doubt, made the book stronger. It’s given me new insights into my own process, allowed me to examine situations and problems, find new paths, and brought all of us together. A win-win situation, without a doubt.

So now we’re at the stage I call the second revision. This is where I prepare the manuscript to be submitted to my editor and agent.

While sending your manuscript to your first readers is filled with hopeful fraught, the moment you hit send to your editor and agent can only be defined as sheer terror. From this moment forward, the book is no longer yours…but theirs. They’ve been waiting patiently for the manuscript, and you are hopefully on time or ahead of schedule. (I still say totally missing deadlines derails your career—though there are certain situations in which that’s not the case, especially those moments when the team decides as a whole that date shifts need to happen. But just not turning in your work will absolutely ruin you.)