I watched my energy tank and I didn’t know what to do about it

Oh my! Where do I begin?

I'll start with the big news: in August, I began my search for a developmental editor. I'm putting my big girl writing pants on!

After discussing with a creative client about his process and how much he valued his multiple editors (I suspected that was the route I was going to go too), he shared that by his third book, his editor felt there was nothing more that he could teach him. This idea of evolving my writing through the developmental process piqued my curiosity. I always thought developmental editors were essentially beta readers with a better grasp of story structure and more refined vocabulary to guide authors.

I had beta readers, what would I need a developmental editor for?

Until now, I've leaned heavily on reader feedback and my intuition in interpreting what readers explicitly or implicitly say. Creative problem solving is something I enjoy.

The thing is: a pacing problem for one reader is just not an issue for another, since they’re commenting based on their own preference. To muddy the waters further, when a reader says pacing issue, they may mean that there may be a structural issue, or that some parts felt either irrelevant or didn’t interest them. It can get a little challenging to sort out the difference when readers speak in shorthand.

As an example for the above mentioned preference thing: My husband won’t read anything with multiple POVs. A lot of readers feel the same way, and there are a number of valid reasons why multiple POVs are risky. They might say that having multiple POVs slows down the story - which can be true, therefore leading to a pacing issue.

But I get bored with single POVs.

Fast.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having my shingle hung next to the likes of Stephen King or George R.R. Martin, both who totally write multiple POVs and fans LOVE it.

Really it comes down to: what will maintain my interest over the long term with this series. I’m okay that my ‘readers market share’ will be a much smaller share than if i chose to go with a single POV.

For me the answer’s obvious: I’d rather have a small die hard fan base, even if it meant I couldn’t pay my bills on book income alone. (But I can DREAM!)

One thing I'm sure of is that there IS a clarity issue in my writing. What I'm not sure about is whether the issue lies in the language I’ve chosen, if I'm overwhelming the reader with nuance and implied context, or if I'm not being explicit (I never liked stories that held my hand throughout - basically telling me what to think, while not giving my imagination the chance to roam). I trust my readers to piece together contextual clues, but that might not be the most effective approach if I aim to reach a broader audience.

I’ve already made some limiting choices by not focusing on a love situation between any of the characters, and by making each character very flawed in an effort to make them more human - but not necessarily despicable. How many of these limiting market choices can I make before it has deep a negative impact on reader retention?

But I’m not going to think about that right now.

Right now, it’s about getting this 4th draft done! 7.5 chapters are done. Only 16.5 more to go. I’m going to die of old age before Awakening is done…

Back to my developmental editor story.

August: I was struggling with finishing chapter 8, let alone managing everything else life was throwing at me. By mid-September, my energy reserves dwindled from three hours of focus to barely over an hour, leaving me emotionally and creatively drained.

Come Friday, the only word I could utter to my husband was '“Nope.” Didn’t matter the question or statement. It was surprisingly alarming!

In case I haven't said it enough, "focus time" is a concept from Cal Newport's book "Deep Work." If you're keen on boosting productivity, it's a must-read.

Despite these challenges, I've been juggling other tasks. My attempts to manage the garden and household chores have been barely sufficient (I recently caught up with everything I neglected these past 6 weeks). I work from home, my business income fluctuates significantly, and the household responsibilities was ‘MY’ offer to my husband who was happy to do a 50/50 share. My husband is our primary breadwinner, and even though he expresses a desire to switch roles, my inconsistent earnings wouldn't support that change.

By the time 4 pm hits, I'm utterly drained, losing interest in gaming, reading, and binging a show. I just can’t process anything. I may have broken my brain.

It's not depression; it's sheer exhaustion.

My husband announced late one week that he had been fighting off a flu from work; my productivity slump might've been because I caught his flu without realizing. And even though I recovered two weeks later, my motivation and energy kept waning.

Burnout was setting in.

Come late September, I had to re-evaluate. I filled my weekends with fun, energy collecting activities, and as much non-screen time I could manage. Through out, work still beckoned. I catalogued visual stressors, like overgrown plants and other odd garden chores. These were small things that were adding up and weighing me down. Among the tasks I had to pause was Active Writing. It’ll remain on pause until I catch up with my edits (mental stressors add up too).

During my search for a developmental editor, I wanted to remain engaged with my book, keeping its narrative alive in my subconscious while I churned through all of the other writing adjacent tasks. The current problem I’ve been mulling over is whether to exclude Astral and William's POV for a more reader-friendly experience. This would involve removing six chapters I've spent most of this year writing. I'm toying with the idea of releasing two versions to gauge audience preference.

Interestingly, many developmental editors prefer a complete manuscript, which doesn’t work for me. I hoped to speed up my growth and work on craft problems by applying feedback from earlier chapters to the new ones, thus avoiding repetitive mistakes and book wide edits.

Thankfully, two editors agreed to my chapter-by-chapter approach. I chose one who works in the fantasy line of a subsidiary for one of the big 5. I want to get as close to trad quality without actually selling my soul.

Currently, I've received feedback on my first two chapters. While dealing with burnout, my days are split between client projects and writing. Fortunately, I've wrapped up several major projects recently, freeing up my calendar until at least March of next year.

On a brighter note, the potatoes I planted in July were a success! I'll plant even more next year. We ended up eating 4 plants worth in a week.