What a Whirlwind

I am happy to say I got back into editing mode this weekend, and what a good thing I did!

It was an exciting weekend for me, but it started out on quite the emotional roller coaster. I had heard back from one of the agents I live pitched at the #ChesapeakeWritersWorkshop towards the beginning of September, but I hadn't heard anything from the second one. On Saturday, I received the expected rejection. It was kind and encouraging, but a rejection nonetheless.

I had decided to spend Saturday morning baking, with the intention to start editing in the afternoon. I got a little distracted by the Hallmark movie line up (it's "research" I swear). After my husband got home, I was preparing to head upstairs to start my work when I was trying to show him something on my phone. An email popped up from a publisher I had queried after #PitMad. Expecting yet another rejection, I impatiently dismissed the notification to get back to the task at hand. 

I distinctly remember saying to my husband "oh, look, there's another rejection" as I clicked to read the email. To my utter surprise, it was not a rejection, but a full manuscript request! I was ecstatic! This is only the second full request I've gotten, though, I haven't really started full on querying beyond Twitter pitch contests and responding to #MSWL requests.

Now, I'm at a bit of a connundrum. I had queried the publisher before I got some major editing suggestions back. Many of the edits would make the manuscript stronger, but some of them will change the trajectory of the story. I sent a synopsis with my chapters to the publisher, but now it's kind of null and void if I make the changes I was planning. I mean, the main story is the same, but the path to the end will be altered from what I put in my synopsis.

I'll have to think on it a bit, but I'm wondering if I can still get to a similar ending in the synopsis while incorporating the edits. Has this happened to anyone else? In some ways, I regret deciding to hire a developmental editor since I received two full requests right after I sent the first payment. But in others, if these edits take my book to the next level, that's a good thing, right?

With all of this in mind, I'm looking forward to spending this "holiday" from my day job on editing!