May 29, 2018:  How important is revision? “If the story is good, I will look past the many mistakes,” said no editor ever. So buckle your seat belts, pour another cup of coffee, and hold on because after more revisions that I can possibly count, I’m fixin’ to tell you the truth. Each time I’ve sent Blood Money back, I thought it was the absolute best it could be. Each time I received it back, mistakes jumped off the page. How could there possibly still be mistakes after all these years and revisions? Still, there they were. I’ve read many times, the mind (especially YOUR mind) sees what YOU meant to write. That’s Sandi-lish, not necessary English, but the meaning still holds. So I spent the past two weeks reading though Blood Money for the umpteenth time, and I found more than 25 edits…on the first 100 pages! In addition, this time something new surfaced. I identified a weak area involving an important sub-plot, but for the life of me, I didn’t know how to tie it together. Several days later, viola! The missing piece fell into place. Only a few words were required, but the story melded into a nice little nod to our Veterans. The timing could not have been better, as it preceded Memorial Day by only two days.  No matter how many times I’ve read through Blood Money, I still find something to improve. Are revisions tiring? You bet’cha. Will it be worth it in the end? Absolutely! Don’t be a lazy writer. Don’t fool yourself into thinking somewhere there’s an Editor just chomping at the bit to receive your underdeveloped, error-ridden manuscript. I’ve been subbing for almost ten years and I never found that fairy god-mother. I doubt you will, either. If you do, please email me his/her name!