Words About Writing

Same old, same old... editing in reverse, slowly progressing. I found a vlogger who is hosting a "writing retreat" in June. Just a motivating way to remember to do a little every day. So I signed on and it's helping! Still slow going, but it motivates me to do the editing first.  I added another hefty work project to my task list, but the community group is less stressful already, so that's good. I think I will do this reverse-edit for every book. It helps me focus on the words. Of course, there will be subsequent edits. I know that. After I get back to the beginning, I'll have to print it out and do a full read-through to mark it up again. But for now, if I get back to the mid-point by the end of June I'll be happy. Keep on keeping on! 

I achieved my Nanowrimo goal. I have not finished the full edit, but my goal was to spend a certain amount of time each day editing. I did that! I finally finished the scene edit on April 29th. I've been doing the line edit in reverse. Starting with the final scene, I am reading from the bottom up, correcting from my notes, and then reading through each full scene afterward. It's a slow process, but I'm enjoying it. Unfortunately, two things have dropped on my plate that take up a lot of time at the moment. For a few days, I did no editing at all. First, there's a major project I'm in charge of for work. It will last about two months, I think. Second, I have joined a friend to start a new community group, and beginning something new is always chaos at the start. Hopefully in a week or two that will smooth out. I guess, for now, I will focus on doing a little bit of editing every day, but not stress about how long I take at it. The work thing MUST be done on time. Th...

("Progress" coordinates with the AtoZ challenge, if I was actually doing it.) I finally finished the Story Level edit.  It felt like it took a lot longer than it needed to, but actually, I had marked in my planner my goal dates and I was right on target! According to my Camp Nanowrimo goal, though, I am way behind. Some good days, some bad days, but the productive and underproductive days haven't balanced out yet. At this rate, according to Nanowrimo I'll meet my goal on May 8. Yikes! Today begins the Scene/Chapter Level edit. I had allotted just six days for this, but I now know for a fact I'll have 2 busy (underproductive) days in there, and might completely lose a day of editing due to LIFE. So I'm granting myself until the 25th. I've never NOT met a Nanowrimo goal yet. It seems silly. If you set a goal that's just you against a calendar, rearrange your time! It was in my power to set a goal that fit my schedule and I did so. The goal is achievable....

Well, so much for doing A-to-Z. I forgot about it for two days. But, in the spirit of it: EDITING CHALLENGES The way I'm doing this edit follows a "top-down" system I learned about, actually through a Nanowrimo virtual write-in. Four steps - 1. Read the manuscript and MAKE NOTES. Notes should be coded for whether the suggested change will effect a) the whole story (or at least multiple chapters), b) just the current scene/chapter, or c) just that sentence/line. 2. Tackle the notes that will effect the whole story. These could be big cuts, added scenes, or themes that stretch throughout the story. 3. Now, tackle the notes that will effect a scene or chapter. After the big cuts from step 2, there may be fewer of them left. 4. Finally, go through all those nit-picky line notes. Clean up the language. Make it flow. Theoretically, step one should only take a couple days, but this vomit draft needs a lot of work. I hope to get step one up to the mid-point of this WIP today. Tha...

So much for "short, simple" writing projects. March is at its end, and the most writing I've done for the last two months has been tiny edits in an earlier work; one that needs better atmosphere, so I'm going in randomly and trying to tweak it. Half-heartedly, so there's minimal progress. I've really lost my mojo for writing lately. I thought that having extra work for a month (-ish) was doable. "I can do anything for a month!" ... but getting back into regular life has been a struggle. I feel like I'm walking in a brain-fog all day. I read. A lot. I study. Not a lot. I drink coffee. Something is lacking and I need a boost to get whatever that something is. Therefore, now that the time has come to pick back up my latest Nano creation for editing, I have decided to join Camp Nanowrimo. This is a Nanowrimo event where writers set their own goals. So my measurable goal for the month of April will be to edit for two hours a day. It doesn't sound ...

Again with the long hiatus from blogging! First, it was because all was going according to plan. I followed a three-step edit process, making notes that change the overall story, then per chapter or scene, and finally noting lines that needed to be fixed. Then I traveled for a while and struggled to get back into the routine of writing and editing. Now I'm back, with a new focus. Still in the WIP from Nanowrimo 2022, but I realized that regardless of all the notes I had made, the overall "feel" of the book was wrong. It was too straightforward. This book should make the reader cringe. I want it to be spooky as hell. It's not my strong suit. A few days ago I saved the whole thing under a new title, so I can do a massive overhaul of it without obliterating the original in case this version turns out worse. Then I deleted a bunch of scenes that seem superfluous or too light. There are a few changes that will need to be made to the story line, so I've begun working th...

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. I finished that edit and moved on to beginning the edit of my November WIP. I admit, I forgot what I had already done until I got into my first review! So far, I haven't actually changed anything. I followed the suggestion of "read and summarize" as a way to see if the story I wrote matched the one I had set out to write. I'm not sure what value that action is supposed to carry, but for me, reading straight through without any changes helped me see some scenes that seem to be out of order, or are repetitive. I made notes. As for my "bugaboos"... I go through this every time. And it's Time. The Time-line, specifically. In an effort to make sure things are happening realistically, I need to be sure that the timing fits together. For this WIP, certain chapters are full of a dense couple days of action, while others might cover a longer period of time. And the season changes during the course o...

I'm excited about this step, so must document it. I don't seem to have written about the Nanowrimo Youtube series I watched on streamlining the editing process. It was in 4 parts (or three?), and really helped me focus each step. I started while mid-edit for that last editing project, so it was hard to fit the steps they provided into my Scrivener drafts. (The presenters used a program called Fictionary.) With my recent Nanowrimo draft, I have decided to set it up now in such a way to make the 3 step editing process easier later. And I love it. I did a quick review of the Scrivener tutorial to figure out the best way to set this up. I'm in there, using the Meta-data options to highlight the path of each scene, so I'll be able to see at a glance what needs to be done. Next step (starting today), I'm going to add key words and reference tabs to make it easier to link up different scenes. Part of the hassle of editing, I've found, is when a change in one scene affe...

I'm trying to break up my time more specifically between editing the WIP and prepping the next one. The line edit is still very slow, sometimes three days on a scene or chapter, but it is still rewarding when it comes out right. Breaking it up by doing some work on another thing helps boost that "serotonin" that hits after I accomplish something. I've noticed that my books don't have a ton of conflict. An initial conflict of course, and struggles - internal or external - on the way to resolving the main conflict, but I don't tend to "up the ante" as the book progresses. The next work I'm planning will have more of that. I'm lining up what conflict will happen at what point in the book, and trying to do a better job of outlining. A lot of the conflict points are now set. I'm moving on in recent prep-work to focus on the characters. I know who they are, but I haven't yet gotten into their heads. Characters usually come more easily to me...

Has it been a month? Shame on me! I finished the Scene Edit for this WIP, and have started on the Line Edit. This is a slow process. It's rewarding - perfecting the words - but time consuming and difficult. This is when I really see/read/hear what has or hasn't worked. Some days, when I feel stuck in a scene, the easy choice is to set it aside for a while and come back later. But that really doesn't help. I've found that it's best to stay in the hard scene, make changes, and then on the re-read later, maybe make more changes. That doesn't mean I don't ever give in to the urge to "set it aside", but I know that's not how I'll make progress. It's important to remind myself that this is important to me. Does that sound strange? If it's important, I shouldn't have to remind myself that it is, right? You'd think so, but right now the value of my work doesn't have a price tag. I think that's why it's easy to forget tha...

The more I edit this second book, the more I realize my first book is not ready for publication.  So I'm backing off from the query process. I threw a question (to query or not) into the cybernet and a response caught my mind: "Perfect your work. Don't burn bridges."  Am I to understand that by querying early, the fact that my name has been submitted and rejected before is a "burned bridge" for an agent or agency? That's a scary thought! So my earlier goal to step up the writing has been underlined. Double underlined. Write, write, write. Edit. Perfect the writing. Get this one actually ready for querying, and THEN query. Yay! That makes me happy because writing and editing is a lot more fun than querying.

I'm resetting my goals. Writing comes first. It's been very easy as an unpublished writer to set the writing aside, especially now that I have a business to take my time. But I think I need to ease back from that. Here's the thing. The business is good; it's supposed to solidify retirement, but it's not "my" thing. I supported it financially, and now have many things to do with it. I've been working very hard to do my part and show that I'm invested. I don't know that my efforts are as well-received as I thought. I know what I've been doing would be helpful in the long-run, so I won't totally stop, but ... I can slow down. My writing. That is my goal. That's for me. That could be my retirement plan. But I need to focus more on the day-to-day of it. The improvement of style. The writing. The editing. The querying. Get myself in place for my own future. Work for the business can fill in gaps in my day, if needed. Little side projects...

Slower than ever.  I am still working through the Nanowrimo editing series, but that new business venture is taking more of my time than I expected. So much for being a silent partner! Still. Forward progress is forward progress. I'll take what I can get. Bonus: I've joined a writing group! This is better than the last group I tried out. A short time of writing, then a lot of discussion, feedback, and editorial suggestions. To the point that I tried out some of the editorial suggestions this afternoon, in my WIP.  Very helpful.  I think my writing will only improve now that I have a group of conscientious fellow-writers to consult on methods.

Still editing, but in a slightly different manner. The Nanowrimo Youtube channel has been doing a series on editing with a couple pros - of course they are showing off their software and program, but it seems a good way to do top-down editing (big issues down to little things). I've been trying to adapt their tips for my Scrivener version. And then April happened, and on my other blog I did the A to Z Challenge. Edited, too, but didn't have as much time to spend on editing. Plus, I have a new business venture waiting in the wings of my life, and that took a lot of time in the past few weeks. So again, less time for other things like editing. I hate putting off editing, but realistically, until I have an agent and a publisher urging me to meet deadlines, my deadlines and timing goals are my own to keep or change. If I am going to keep balance in my life, I have to be flexible in all areas of my day-to-day plans.  Back on track, though.  I think. I hope.

Fully in edit mode now. I finished a once-over, adding small notes. I did some reorganizing so that Scrivener will compile it better for me than the one I'm querying right now. Now I'm on the second read-through, reading back-to-front, scene by scene, to make sure each scene works in its own right. I'm making edits, but mostly adding notes. The next edit will be front-to-back, and then I'll see if I have duplicate notes in different places. Actually, I may need to go back to the end and do some of the "first" scenes again. As I was editing, I had pulled out a reference book on scene-work, and I think I might have missed some key things in the first scenes I looked at. I was originally trying to ensure that the ending worked as a complete ending, and didn't focus on scene-work in those final scenes. So there's a lot of work to do on this one, but I have come to believe that it's actually better than the one that's out there in query-world. Query...

Rejections are still slowly coming. I've had 5 official rejections, and one query that exceeded the "I'll respond to you by" date. Today I sent out another one, so that puts eight queries still in the rotation. My goal is to get out two more this week. I've been spending more time editing and writing a new story for Nanowrimo. Both. It's crazy. I'm crazy. I started the month mostly editing, but there aren't a lot of words there and my Nano was flailing. Now I'm writing more than editing, in a story that was started with a premise instead of with characters. Usually I have a character first, then work out a plot and start piecing it together. This is a little more random than that. I did have two initial characters, but in my initial writing I was thinking of one character for the lead, and now I've switched to another. It's all over the place. I'm not thrilled with the way the story is going, but I'm making decent word count progres...

I love editing! And this edit especially, is a breeze! I really am just touching up wording here and there, and I'm ahead of schedule. I should finish the edit in just two more days, and I'll have time to draft more query letters after that, maybe sending out my first batch BEFORE November! Wow. I've signed up for Nanowrimo again. I have a story idea, and writing will be a nice break between querying in November, but I might just edit one of my other drafts instead. I have three other novels sitting in first draft form. Overall, I'm happy with my progress. High hopes! 

Whew. All feedback is compiled and the consensus is: I need to curate a better list of readers. Two got back to me a week early. One had very general, gushy comments. (One of the friends that they say never to use as readers.) The other early finisher had more complete notes, and valuable ideas. Which is good, because the last two never finished the book. I managed to pull a few detailed notes from them, but will never use them as beta-readers again. The good news is, I have good ideas for fixing the beginning, which I knew was a problem for querying. So I'm into the final reading and edit. All the simple changes are done, and I started working on the troublesome beginning, but need a little more work there. Then I'll just do a final reading and fix tiny things I notice as I go. As far as querying, I finished the list I was working on, then went to one of the other websites I'd found. I made a new page on my spreadsheet (to track which website I'm getting names from) an...

Yes! I'm nearing the end of the WIP my reader had helped point out trouble spots. No! One trouble spot requires a re-write of a scene. Or maybe a deletion. I'm trying to fix the scene, tighten it up, make it fit, but it's hard to so quickly switch gears from editing to writing. This is taking some time. I tried adjusting within the scene, and it was too much the same. So I tried again, deleting big chunks before getting to work. Still off. So I tried writing a completely different scene to help me come up with a better middle. And that's where I am. I'm thinking it will just be truncated a lot. I'm not happy with it, but I understand why the reader was unhappy with it to begin with, and I agree with their logic. I can't stop now, so near the end! Back into the fray I go! 

I was doing great.  As planned when I last posted, I was working on a timeline for my magnum opus - going through scenes to find the timing of everything and dropping the information into a gantt chart, making minor changes to the text. That's been my last ... four days. Then yesterday I set up and turned on my computer, went about my normal "getting ready for the day" routine, casually passing my computer and opening scrivener, then the file, and saw it open to where I had left off the day before. Fine. No problem. I was doing something in a different part of the house (no one else was around) and when I came back, my computer was asleep (of course). No problem. Tap it to wake it up. Scrivener is still open, but the document I was in was blank! No words! I clicked on the document above it in the manuscript folder. Blank. The next one - blank. So I panicked and closed Scrivener. I opened it again and thought, "Maybe it's a visual thing." The project still sh...