Do Overs

Ever so often, a reader will ask a question about some small detail in my debut novel, Deliver Me, and I'll have to admit that I can't answer because it's been years since I read the book. The last time I read it was during the galley-proofing stage, back in 2006. I've never read the story in actual book form, and likely never will. The same goes for all of my books thus far. As any author knows, by the time the book hits store shelves you've read it so many times that you're pretty much sick of it.

However, during the writing of my newest novel, Huddle With Me Tonight, I vowed this story would be different. I love it so much that I was actually looking forward to the galley so I could read it again. When the proofs arrived a few weeks ago, I stopped everything I was doing, drove to a coffee shop and settled in to read. That's when I discovered why I hate to read my books in actual book form: There are no do overs!

The galley stage only allows for corrections of typographical errors or problems with consistency. You cannot change an entire sentence around just because you thought of a better way to say it, or add a couple of lines of dialogue that you think would make a scene just a tad more entertaining. You have to let the flawed writing remain, and for me, this is torture!

I realize that I take the ability to tweak a manuscript for granted during the writing process. It's when I can no longer make changes to it that the story I loved so much turns into the one that could have been better...if only I could have a do over.

Tell me I'm not the only one who suffers from do over yearnings. If there was one thing you wish you could do over, what would it be?