I've changed a character's unsatisfactory name.

A low-income housing project building in Harlem like the one Matt and Karen move into.

Although I believed my novel Matt and Dee Move into Harlem was finished and polished, proofread and edited, I grew dissatisfied with Dee's name. The longer I thought about it, the more I thought that it did not give the impression I wanted of a young white wife from a small Ohio city. 

It did not help Dee's case that after a year of sending out queries to literary agents, not one had responded positively. I concluded she needed a new, more appropriate name and, because I was making the change, to reconsider the title and review the entire manuscript.

The character is now Karen. Through the magic of the internet, changing every Dee to Karen took less than a minute. And the book's title is now Matt and Karen Move to (not into) Harlem.

I've recently read two novels that impressed me by the writing or translation: Free Love by Tessa Hadley and We Do Not Part by Han Kong, translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. Rereading my manuscript with those fresh examples in mind helped me see innumerable places where I could cut extra words or add a telling adjective.

I'm about a quarter into revising the book and it seems to be going well. Wish me luck,