David Long, my editor at Bethany, did the substantive edit on this book, and my agent offered input, too.  My biggest problem (and have I ever mentioned how important it is to have other people give you their perspective?) was that Bathsheba’s story spanned at least 20 years, but all the action happened at the beginning and end of the story.  Plus, protagonists should be ACTIVE, and even placing her in David’s frenetic household didn’t help make her active.  She was in real danger of being passive, and that’s not good.

So I devised some other plots about things she could do . . . and gave her a goal of protecting her son.  I was torn about whether or not she should want Solomon to be king. Should she want him to be “normal” and avoid all the dangers of being a crown prince?  Or should she believe that he was meant to be king all along?  I think I held a different position in each draft, then finally settled on one–and it was the right choice, I think.  If not, it’s too late to change now.

All to say that I have always appreciated the opinions of my editors.  I don’t always agree with them, but most of the time I do.  When you spend a lot of time in a novel, it’s very easy to be too close to be objective.  Constructive comments always make a book better.  🙂

~~Tomorrow:  Questions and Answers, so if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments box!

I’m off to photograph a dog this morning.  🙂

~~Angie