Editing process (Patreon)

Hi Pals,

Thought I'd take you along what I've been working on lately.

A few months ago when I submitted The Weight in full to D&Q, I got some feedback and edits back. Even though they assured me that the edits were totally optional, it was still a lot to absorb and think about and desperately try not to take personally 😅.

I took some time to recover and reread The Weight and fully absorb their thoughts. I had Chuck read it too which helped. I started out going through and doing small edits to the drawings, and then decided I agreed with some of the stuff they said and tried to figure out how to make it feel like mine still. That's the hardest thing, trying to listen to feedback without letting it completely take over and end up with something I don't feel ownership over.

Most of the big changes are happening after Edie and Cal move off the farm. I'm adding a whole new chapter in between chapters 12 and 13 that goes deeper into what their lives are like as new parents living in the trailer at Racine Lake and working on the midway. It's also kind of a slower build up of Cal being an asshole.

I'm almost finished with that new chapter, and then I'm rewiting some more and changing the timeline around in the second half of the book. It's a lot of work and kind of a nightmare when you work the way I do, which is writing and drawing the story page by page without planning it out first. I do thumbnail a little but it always ends up changing. I have whole pages done that I'm just not going to use.

So yeah. I'm trying to stay as true to myself as I can and make a book I'm proud of. Pretty much every day I toy with the idea of saying "fuck it" and submitting it exactly as is. I want to move on to the next thing!! But I also don't want to have a book I'm not confident in. I'm frustrated a lot and some days that inner critic voice is loud AF. But I also feel like I'm getting to know adult Edie even better through this process, which is a plus.

Wowza this was long. If you made it this far I love you and thank you for being here through this complicated journey with me.

This is one of the new pages I just drew, and I liked it, so I thought I'd show you.

Love,

Melissa

P.s. as my patrons, would you want to see the new chapters on here? Or would you rather read it all together when the book's done? Just wondering.