Second Draft

I cant understand what you mean really. Are you talking about once the editor gets it? No I dont get upset. It is all to make your document perfect. Every change puts it a little closer to perfect.

My latest sold book came back with some major reformatting, restructuring, and a complete couple of chapters of "take this out and put this in". Took forever it seemed. Afterwards? A Much Better Book. Muchly. I now have a book that was better than what it was in the beginning, and that was totally worth all the bleeding the manuscript did.

Editors are your friend, so don't take their edits and changes as slings and arrows -- they're yet another tool to make your work better. Yeah, losing chapters can seem like a slap in the face, but you'll probably find out it was the right decision. The editor on my first book asked me to compress two chapters into one, and lose another one entirely. I was shocked, but made the change --- and she was absolutely right. The book was better for it.

So. Hang in there, and revise, revise, revise.

I've been eternally grateful to my editors. One of them - my mother - occasionally launches attacks on my manuscript akin to a chainsaw murderer. Unlike what everybody says about mothers and editing, she has no problem telling me what I do NOT want to hear!

Then there is Shari, who politely informed me that I had to slash and burn about half the material and then rework the rest entirely. I was in a state of shock for a couple days feeling like I got run over by a bulldozer. But as i set out I discovered a whole new level of writing and my manuscript went from... well, some degree of awful to much better.

So thank God for your editors and do what they say and don't be discouraged!

My last book, the tech editor raised so many questions and had so many suggestions for improvements that I felt like SHE should have written the book. It made me very humble. Toward the end of the process, I discovered that she wasn't making criticisms, she was excited about the book and was just engaging in dialogue about it.

Either way, it forced me to do more research, incorporate more information, and improved the book.

[And congratulations on achieving the status of pre-final draft. I'm currently on pre-first draft].

Royal Mercury said:

It never got any easier to face those comments.

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It's something you'll need to overcome if you want to keep doing this, as it's a basic part of the process. Every writer, no matter how experienced, will face them with every major project they tackle.

Besides, as noted earlier, those comments were making your work better. That's a Good Thing. Even when I don't agree with certain comments or suggestions, I'm thankful for every one because they get me looking closer at my own work. They get me in a frame of mind where I can be more objective about my work, and ultimately, where I can improve it in ways I might not have been able to otherwise.

Editors are your friend. Those comments, corrections, and notes should not sting. They should have you excited that you're a few steps closer to having the best work you can possibly do.