Revise and Resubmit: A Gift or a Curse?

I was sitting at my computer one day when my email dinged—that glorious and terrifying sound for a querying writer. It’s infinitely more terrifying when you have fulls out to agents. When I saw the name of the sender, my heart dropped. It was from an agent that had my full. I tentatively clicked on the email expecting a couple line response including a thanks but I didn’t connect enough to take this on. To my surprise I saw a decent sized paragraph ending with the phrase “I’ve decided to pass, but I’d be happy to take a second look if you decide to revise.”

And here I was. It wasn’t a no, but it wasn’t the happy yes either. I was stuck in limbo. The gift and curse of a revise and resubmit. If I did it well it could be that yes, but if I screwed it up, didn’t do enough, or took it in a direction the agent didn’t like, it’d be a no. I didn’t know if I could handle that kind of pressure.

What did I do?

I reread the paragraph again. There was a line of notes about what the agent liked and many more about what wasn’t quite working. But in reading it again, I started to get angry. It didn’t seem like this agent even read my whole manuscript let alone really liked it. Why even ask for a revision? I stewed for a bit then messaged one of my critique partners with HELP WHAT DO I DO???

After what seemed like an eternity, my CP got back to me. I sent her a copy of the email from the agent. After reading it, she said, wow it sounds like this agent really likes your work and gave you a lot of great notes.

Wait, what? Were we even reading the same email? I expressed my concerns to my CP, and she told me to read the email again.

So I did. I read it about five more times. And the more I read it, the clearer it became. This agent did really like the story, and despite my original inference, it did appear she’d read the whole manuscript with interest in the concept and had passion for the story. But if I hadn’t taken a step back and gotten some additional advice, I might never have seen that. I might have just stewed in anger forever.

That said, there were still some items there that I agreed with and others I didn’t, most of the feedback though I didn’t know how to address. One of the comments was one I’d even seen before from two other agents, but I still didn’t know how to tackle it. So instead of responding that day to the agent, I sat on it. I periodically went back and read what the agent said expecting a great epiphany to hit me, but it didn’t.

I put the email aside, but in the back of my mind were some changes I had previously wanted to make running through my head. They didn’t really address the issues the agent raised, but it would make the story a bit better. And on top of that, was one piece of important information about my main character that I’d always known but hadn’t ever mentioned because I didn’t know how to make it mean anything to the story.

All this information was swirling around in my brain and bugging me. And then that evening when I sat down to watch TV something clicked. That piece of information about my main character I’d always known but not included, I finally knew how to make it matter. Even better, the key to making it mean something was rooted in the feedback I’d gotten from the agent. I’d had this comment twice before and not known what to do with it, but something in the way this agent had written it made it finally click in my brain. I FINALLY understood the problem and knew how to fix.

Once I’d made the big epiphany, the wheels began turning and the ideas were flowing. I took lots and lots of notes. When I felt like I had a clear path forward, I opened a reply email to the agent. I thanked her again for her time, that I appreciated her honest feedback, and let her know that I’d be interested in making some edits.

And then I hit send.

It wasn’t another minute before the panic set in. What was I thinking? I had no idea what I was doing. What if the agent hated the direction I was taking the manuscript? I hadn’t told her what I was thinking, just that I’d like to opportunity to edit with her feedback in mind. What if I did all this work and the answer was no?

After many frantic messages to my CPs and their reassuring words that I was doing the right thing because I had a direction and a passion to make this manuscript better, I finally calmed down a little bit. But I still had this fear in the back of my mind. A fear of doing what I needed to do, what was right for the story.

This fear was crippling me. There was so much riding on this. If I did this right, I could come out with an agent. If I didn’t, it was back to the dreaded query trenches. As my brain reeled I had to ask myself an important question. Was I doing this just to get an agent or because I wanted to make my manuscript better?

The answer was first and foremost that I wanted to make the manuscript better. Sure I wanted an agent, but whether that happened or not, I believed in this manuscript and the new direction I had planned up.

In order to move forward, I put the crippling thoughts aside (as best as I could), and threw myself head first into the edits. Sure the doubt crept in from time to time, but every time it did, I went back to that important question and my answer: this was about improving my manuscript, making it the best it could be.

And when I finally finished the edits and submitted them back to the agent, I was proud of the manuscript. I was proud of what it was and even more proud of what I accomplished. And whether that agent decides to take it on or not, I had the best piece of work I could offer. And that was something to smile about.

Twenty Revision Tips and Tricks

Ready to take your writing to the next level? The following are some of my favorite revision tips and tricks. If you add your revision ideas in the comments box, everyone will benefit. Thanks so much, and happy revising!

REVISION IDEAS:

1. Print your manuscript in a different font and/or send it to your Kindle. Many agents and editors read on e-readers, so it's a good idea to take this step.

2. Read through your manuscript. Flag pages that require attention. (Gather plenty of sticky notes first!)

3. Make a list of what needs to be done to make the story stronger. Later, when you complete each item, check it off your list. It's amazing how satisfying this feels!

4. Quicken the pace. Add occasional one or two-word sentences. More dialogue, more action, clear goals, high stakes.

5. Look at every scene and chapter ending. Are they full of suspense?

6. Use a highlighter to mark distinctive character traits. Are they consistent throughout?

7. Read your first sentence aloud. Is there a hook that draws the reader into the story? If time allows, read your entire manuscript aloud. Record yourself reading.

8. Re-read the first chapter. Does it present an intriguing problem and a vibrant, unusual character? Does it establish character, setting, and problem?

9. Cut weak words. Some examples: Beautiful, smile, a lot, really, something, always, sort of, look, kind of, that, slowly, very, realize, suddenly, it occurred, nod, feel, stare, glance, look, laugh, suddenly, sigh.

10. Cut “ly” adverbs.

11. Cut dialogue tags. (“He said/she said” after every single line of dialogue can slow the pace.)

12. Double-check dialogue. Does each character’s dialogue fit their personality? Do they sound different from each other? Highlight each character's dialogue using a different color for each character.

13. Map the story ARC.  Do the problems get bigger and bigger until you reach the worst day/scenario ever for the main character?

14. Write down the theme of your story. What has the main character learned through his/her trials and problems? How has he/she changed?

15. Read SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, by Renni Brown and Dave King

16. Examine each scene. Does each scene have an inciting event, conflict, and climax?

17. Identify your main character's goal. Can you easily identify what your main character wants/needs? His/her outer goal and innermost need? A lie the character believes to be true? A wound from the past?

18. Check character mannerisms. Are they consistent?

19. Vary sentence lengths. Change the rhythm of your words, if necessary. Revise like a poet!

20. Read your story ending. Does it have unexpected inevitability?

MG Minded Talks - Revisions, Editing, and Critiquing

Welcome to another installment of MG Minded Talks! We will ask each of the bloggers a series of questions and they will share their responses. This month we are talking revisions, editing, and critiquing. Here's the questions:

1) How many drafts do you usually go through before you think it's ready for submission (agent, editor, querying etc.)

2) How do you know when your manuscript is "finished"?

3) What are your favorite kind of revisions?

Brooks B.

1) I generally edit as I write. Which makes for a longer draft time, but when I'm finished, it's generally ready for CPs or my agent.

2) That's tough, but when I feel like it has enough peak-and-valley moments with the conflict and the loose ends of the plot and subplot are tied up in a nice enough neat little bow, I can call it ready. If I don't then I'll continue to edit forever.

3) Ones where someone has a brilliant suggestion that adds more tension, raises the stakes even higher, causes more conflict. It's mean, but it makes for good story. J

Stacey T.

1) Totally depends on the book. If it's one I had a strong plot for and it came out well, it may not need much. I always at least do a big picture read through, fixing anything that doesn't seem right (might be a lot or might be just some tweaks) and then a more nitpicky copy/line edit and lastly I do some searches of words I over use. There are usually a lot of them!. Sometimes I realize new problem or a better fix later and have to go through the steps 1 and 2 over again. And again. Til it's finally right. So 3 minimum, max? Unlimited.

2) It's never finished! But usually when I'm excited about it and I've completed both steps 2 and 3.

3) I like the big picture read through. I like seeing it as a finished product and planning out what I can do to make it better.

Jamie K.

1) That really depends on the book, the feedback I get, and how frequently I start a new file, but I tend to average somewhere between 7-15. I always edit as I write so that helps make my "first" draft a little cleaner. After that, I usually have an alpha reader that checks for understanding and places where I might need more or less information on a micro level. Then I do a couple rounds myself, a full read through for continuity and flow, and an abused words cull where find replace with highlights words I tend to abuse or tend to make sentences weak. Then I send the manuscript off for various rounds of beta readers for a high level overview. Are the plot, characters, pacing etc working.

2) Well a manuscript is never really finished, but when I feel confident in the story and that I've addressed all the big issues readers have brought up then I feel the manuscript is ready.

3) The abused words cull. It's usually where I see the biggest transformation. The plot and characters don't usually change during that edit, but the writing really starts to shine.

Tom T.

1) I typically need to go through 3 or 4 drafts. I tend to write whatever is in my head at first, so it doesn't make the most sense in the first or second draft, and has pretty poor technical aspects. It's only when I get to my 3rd or 4th draft that everything is really fleshed out.

2) Honestly frown emoticon mine is never finished. I always feel like there is something I could change, or tweak, but I think it's finished once my head is about to explode looking at it. If I find myself changing the same area over and over again, it's typically me just OVER-editing.

3) The revisions where it changes the whole flow of my story for the better and triggers that flag in my head that goes "I LOVE THIS STORY"

Jason R.

1) Usually 4 drafts. After the initial draft of word vomiting, the 2nd draft is to fix macro plot/character stuff. The 3rd is copy editing, language tightening, adverb hacking, etc, Then beta readers get it, and draft 4 includes their feedback. Then it goes to my agent.

2) For now, it's mostly finished for me when it goes on submission, but even then, changes will likely still be necessary down the road before it's published

3) My favorite revision is the draft after my beta readers read it. Their feedback helps me bring the characters more fully to life on the page to better match what's in my head.

Dan K.

1) 3 or 4 drafts. First draft is me telling myself the story. Second draft is me trying to figure out how to tell that story to other people. Three is to make sure it's not a piece of crap. If I still need another, then four is to make sure each word counts.

2) My manuscript is finished after 3 or 4 drafts and particularly, after that draft where I've made sure each word counts. Now, I think I know myself pretty well and believe me, this is just me talking but I know that my 15th draft is not going to be much better than my 4th draft. So, for me, If I can't have a pretty compelling story by my 3rd or 4th draft, I'm in trouble. It's also worth noting that I'm not in the business of trying to win Newberry awards. I just want to make kids laugh and let them have fun for a bit. I stay focused on that.

3) Favorite kind? I don't have any favorite kind but I'll tell you the two most important kinds of revisions I do. Number one is the revision where I go through and look for places where "nothing is happening". I do that sometimes. Just have people talking so I can have some funny dialogue. Problem is, stuff has to keep moving forward. So, sometimes I need to just look for these lull spots and cut them, change them, fix them. The second most important kind of revision I do is when I go through and make sure each character is really speaking and acting according to their own unique voice.

Tom M.

1) I do a lot of editing as I write. After I finish an entire draft I'll go back and give it a second look to see what doesn't work, and after that it'll be ready for my agent. She's fairly editorial, so I know after she reads it I'm going to get some great notes from her. 

2) The manuscript is finished when I start circling back on revision ideas instead of pushing them forward, because there's nowhere else to go. And, of course, when printed, published copies exist.
 
3) I feel like a suck-up saying this, but I LOVE getting agent notes. She tells me what's working and if I need to develop it more, and she'll point out different ideas or approaches for things that might not have occurred to me on my own, which will push me in exciting new directions.

How I Kill My Darlings

I’m going to assume that most of Middle Grade Minded’s readers have at least a passing familiarity with writing and books, and that most of you will recognize the ages-old reference in the title to trimming the fat from ones writing.  That also assumes, maybe foolishly, that no one is tapping out 9-1-1 on their cell phone right now with a shaky hand, filled with terror that my family is in some sort of dire peril.

The only peril they’re in is that I might forget to take the recycling out and can we please all agree that this shouldn’t be my job alone?

But enough of me. Let’s talk about revision, which is what I meant with the reference to killing those darlings. It’s a old adage about writing that I believe with all of my heart, regardless of who said it first.

The act of writing, of taking an idea and giving life to it with mere words, is a process that’s as individual as those of us who attempt it.  What works for me may not work for you. Heck, what works for me today may not even work for my next book.  With that in mind, then, there are exceedingly few generalities that I believe apply to every single writer who ever set a troll-topped pencil to a sheet of lined paper.  Revision, though, is the exception. When it comes to that, there is but one hard, inescapable truth: as a writer, you will never escape the need to revise your work.

When I wrote my first novel, an adult fantasy horror called Famine, I thought I’d be smart. I’d take my time and go over every word I’d written every day, slicing, dicing, and julienning the story in such a way that when the draft was done, most (if not all) of my revising would be In. The. Bag.

Fast forward Slow, excrutiating trudge to 18 months later, and I had a finished novel.  But then I had to reorganize a bunch of it, and even after, it was still a sloppy mess. So much so that I had to make two more passes before I was comfortable letting anyone else look it, lest they think I had the reading comprehension and writing ability of a 9 month-old water-borne toad.

When I started my second novel, Longshots, a MG Sci-Fi adventure, I impressed myself and others (okay, mostly just myself) by using what I’d learned from Famine to make things easier on myself. It was also a NaNoWriMo novel, which means constantly re-sculpting the words I’d just written would work about as well as trying to build a LEGO Death Star with mashed potatoes and Thanksgiving stuffing. So I gritted my teeth, opened up Google Docs, and hammered out 48,000 words without bothering to make sure they were any sort of recognizable English, be it American, British, Olde, or what have you.

Believe it or not, Longshot ended up needed not even half the revision time that Famine had taken, and a few months later I landed my agent with it.

Putting the lessons those two books taught me together, I’ve adopted the following five steps, which have become the My Way of novel revisions.

1. Shut Up and Wait. Type “The End”, save my document, and go fishing, sailing, baking, canoodling, or, (more likely) napping for, at minimum, two weeks.  A month is probably better, but sometimes I’m not that patient. This is called a “cooling off” period. It’s at least twice as awesome as a “sleeping it off” period, because after cooling, you’re excited to see your work again and also not harboring a  headache that could only be the fault of a wrathful demon. Well, that is, until you actually start reading your work back, and then you realize you’d rather take the demon headache.
2. The Big Sweep. I take my manuscript out of the drawer and sharpen my pencils, and then go page-by-page, paragraph-by-paragraph, sentence-by-sentence and fix whatever feels broken. Does every paragraph say something new and unique, or can it be cut? Does every sentence stand on it’s on or is it redundant? Whatever isn’t necessary gets the machete. Then I consider the dialog and all the character’s traits. Are they speaking and acting like that character should? You know, because it’s important you don’t write a scene where Batman crashes into a room with a fully automatic rifle, and then guns down everyone inside while singing show tunes. I’ll scrutinize and polish every page until I’m happy with it.
3. Auxiliary Sweeps: Death to Adverbs and Overuses! It’s time for the long, tedious, exhaustive searches for words that end in “ly”, the overuse of “somehow”, “just”, or “though”. Usually I have a text statistics tool look the manuscript over for me and tell me if something other than “a” or “the” is the most commonly used word in the draft.
4. Performance For One: I read the manuscript again, out loud, to myself.  I cannot stress enough how much this helps to shine a beacon of red light on words that don’t “ring”" true.
5. Beta Readers. I have two or three beta readers that I would trust with the keys to my house, the future of my children, or even my beating, dripping, disgusting heart, should it for some reason find its way outside my chest cavity.  They get copies of the manuscript next. At which point, I scurry off to bide my time thinking of The Next Project. Which is to say, I go binge watch some shows on Netflix while stress eating Smartpop laced with M&Ms.  Before long, they (the beta readers, not the M&Ms) invariably have comments and suggestions when they finish, which I then weigh and incorporate as necessary. But they’re pretty smart people who read a lot, so I rarely ignore anything without a rock solid explanation of why things needs to stay the same.
6. Getting Tweaked for Class Pictures. When I was a kid, no matter how perfectly prepared I was for picture day at school, my mom could always find something that needed a bit of a nip or tuck.  My collar would be off or my glasses would be dirty, sometimes my cowlick was unruly and in desperate need of a tamping down. My manuscripts are no different. Just when I think they’re ready, I’ll think of a sequence that could be stream-lined or a better line of dialog than the one I had used. I’ll make sure the chapter titles are margined properly, the cover sheet is clean and accurate, and the Table of Contents looks just the way I expect. When all of that’s done…
7. You’ve Got Mail: I click send and push that manuscript out into the world, where, with any luck, someone will fall in love with it as much as I have.

As I said before, though, the process of writing a novel is an individual as a snowflake. Okay, I didn’t say that exactly, but I same something along those lines. The point is that while My Patented 5 Step Method works for me, it may not be the best way for you get your best work onto the page. It’s also actually 7 steps, but we’re just going to pretend math isn’t important.

As luck would have it, I’ve got a manuscript in a drawer right now, waiting for some a raging torrent of red ink. So, Good luck with your own manuscripts, and more importantly, your revisions. Because remember, writing is rewriting, and those darlings aren’t just going to off themselves.

Pud’n

Got questions? We might have answers! If you’ve got a question you'd like MG Minded to spin around, don’t hesitate to email MGMinded@gmail.com.

Revisions...OH....REVISIONS...How do I handle thee?

We all know this image....all to well.....it's how we feel when we are knee deep in the process of revisions. It drives us absolutely...IN.....SANE.

Here's the deal. We all get to the point where we think what we write initially is absolute gold. We're sort of blinded by these headlights of writing prowess where we think to ourselves "Holy hell. I am a crafting genius." Until you let someone else read it, and they say to you, "Hey, um...you've got some issues."

It's there, that the revision process truly begins.

So what do I do to handle this revision scenario? Well, a few things --

1) Hand your MS over to other readers.

Beta Readers, Friends, Colleagues, Agents, Editors, ANYONE and EVERYONE. The more feedback you can get on your writing the better. In fact, I want to give a special shout out and props to the beta readers of my latest MS for my new MG novel because they have helped transform it into something truly special. The key is, these people will be able to see things that you otherwise can't. They can point out repetitious words or phrases, plot inconsistencies, poor prose, etc. It all comes down to the "blinders" or "high beams" of writing that we suffer through during the first run of MS writing. We need that extra set of eyes. SO..BADLY. If you haven't gotten yourself one, two or three uber-awesome beta readers, get on that now.

2) Exchange MS - CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

You've just handed your MS over to some beta readers, so what do you do while you wait for them to rip it to shreds? Why, you READ THEIR MS! I can't tell you how helpful it is to read other people's writings. Not only can you recognize common mistakes that you may be making as well, but you can also recognize key strengths that the other author is capable of doing that you can try to learn from. What better way to learn from each others strengths and weaknesses than by reading each others work?

3) Take a break

Going back to the fresh eyes bit. Your eyes need a break too. Once you finish your first draft..take a break. Then once you finish your first round of edits...take another break. Second round? Another break...THIRD ROUND...another break. Keep taking breaks away from your MS to keep your eyes and mind fresh. You want to go into it each time with a new outlook. Constantly ripping your manuscript to shreds will drive you nuts, and you'll end up most likely hurting it rather than helping it. Sure, it may take longer, but it is worth it in the end.

4) Knowing when revision are done

They are really never done. Sorry. LOL. I could say they are done when your book is published, but even then I know I will look at my own writing and say "God Dammit...I should have changed that." Revisions are done, when you can't stand to look at it anymore. Beyond that point, you will just end up hating your MS. Keep that love strong. It's your baby!

5) You don't have to listen to everyone's advice, but handle criticism well

The industry is subjective. We all know that. Everyone has a different opinion on writing and a proper way of doing things, but nothing is concrete. Well, certain things are, but you get what I'm saying. Ultimately, when you get notes back from an editor, or a beta reader, or whoever, you don't have to listen to every word they say. But take their criticism, and put it in your back pocket and think about it. Let it stew a bit before jumping to conclusions. Remember, they are only trying to help. And they can't help you by being all fluffy and nice about your writing and saying you are the greatest thing since JK Rowling. It's a constant work in process, and we all screw up and need improvements.

I know my other MG Minder bloggers are going to be writing similar entries so I don't want to write EVERYTHING about my process. Hell, I need to get back to my revisions for my latest book because I wan't that bad boy on submission..oh yeah, which reminds me...DON'T RUSH. The last thing I WANT to do is send a book on submission that isn't 100% ready.

Good luck everyone, and remember, BREATHE.

NO! IT WASN'T!

The Writing and Revision Process of a Complete Moron

That's me, complete moron. If you don't believe me, ask my wife.

I love hearing about the processes of other writers. When I first started writing, I thought I would learn a magical way for me to do my work.

I didn't find it.

In the end, every writer has her own process and what works for me will probably not work for you. But it's still fun to learn.

I usually get an idea. Maybe it's the title of a book. Maybe it's a character. Or maybe it's a "what if" question. It's happened each way with me. And I kind of noodle on that idea. I think- what about this idea, character, or question interests me?

At that point, one of two things might happen.

Some times, I just start writing. Stephen King talked about novelists being like archaeologists and our idea is to dig and uncover dirt until we 'find' the story. That's what I often do. I just write. I discover things about my character, the idea, the setting.

Then, after I've written anywhere between 1/6 and 1/4 of the book, I stop. I stop and I take a cold hard look at what I've got.

I started with a flash, and now I've written words. But this is my timeout, my opportunity to ask myself the all important question: I've got a whole bunch of words, but do I have the makings of a story?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

Regardless of the answer, I ALWAYS do the SAME thing next. I pull out a piece of paper and I plot. I don't outline nor would I ever outline. Not because I'm fundamentally against it but because I'm fundamentally disorganized and, as I mentioned before, a complete moron. So, instead, I plot. I write down opening, inciting incident, break into act 2 (crossing the threshold), halfway point decision, dark night of the soul, climax, resolution.

And I start brainstorming what the plot points of this story would really need to be in order to look like a real story. Sometimes I can do this in a day, sometimes in takes me a couple weeks of just letting my brain roll the thing around in order to find the right solution.

If I don't find it, I don't keep writing. If I find my plot points, I go back into full drafting mode. Sometimes I start back at square one, sometimes I just pick up where I left off. But my job at this point is to bust out a first draft. And I do mean bust out.

I'm not precious with words. I'm under no delusion that I'm the H.P. Lovecraft of Middle Grade fiction. A wordsmith, I am not. I'm not poetic. What I am is a complete moron, with a decent sense of story and a desire to write funny stuff. So that's what I do. I write the first draft as fast as I can. And my goal at the end of the first draft is the following: I want to finally know what this story is. My job during the first draft is to tell myself the story.

I almost always move on to one of my other projects after I finish my first draft. Sometimes I return to it the following week but in most cases, I bet I wait 2-4 weeks before I start the second draft. My job during the second draft is very simple. I want to make the story I told myself in draft one DOES NOT SUCK AFTER DRAFT TWO.

That's it. Make it NOT SUCK.

Draft two usually takes me longer than the first draft. My job isn't to bust this draft out. It's to pay more attention to the words, to the characters, to the flow, to reversals in plot, things like this. And hopefully, at the end of the second draft, I have something I'm reasonably happy with. I read the whole thing and think about what I need to do to start making this a good story. Doesn't usually take me long and I'm ready to proceed into draft three fairly quickly.

And when I start draft three, my job is very clear. I want the story to be good enough to send to an editor.

That's it. I have to really make the words count, I have to make this damn thing funny, I have to make the climax work, I have to have my character grow, I have to get something done. Third drafts have gone quickly for me and sometimes they have taken F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  But at the end of that third draft, I need to do something with this baby.

Now, in case you didn't know, I self-publish. And my business model is to publish a lot of good books. I'm not writing best sellers. Remember, I'm a complete moron. My job, as I see it, is to write good stories, fun stories, funny stories...and to write and publish lots of them. So after the third draft, I send it to a freelance copy editor. I make those copy edit changes, then I read the entire story again and make any last minute changes that I think need to happen.

Then I send it to a proofreader.

Then I publish.

That's how I do it and if someday, you want to be a complete moron like myself, you might just copy my process exactly. But I think, much more important, is to find the process that works for you.

Last thing, I also draw pictures. My latest book is for 7 and 8 year-olds and has tons of pictures. It's called The Big Life of Remi Muldoon and you can buy the ebook now by following this link.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Life-Remi-Muldoon-Hilarious-ebook/dp/B00XV1Q5YU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432303161&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+life+of+remi+muldoon

Best of luck and happy writing! Daniel Kenney