Words About Writing

Aha! Building on my idea from my last post, I have decided to try Camp Nanowrimo once more. I did it once and it wasn't great for me - seemed pointless - but this year seems a better set up. I've made my goal a timing one. Two hours per day. I can EITHER be adding to the old, troublesome, pantser-style, draft OR when my other wip comes back, I'll dive into editing. Two hours per day, and whatever it is, it is progress. The trick will be to beat the heat. It's very easy to just lay in air conditioning and read instead of sit out at my sweltering desk area and try to be functional. That will be my sisyphean boulder. A month ago, my goal was to be lining up beta-readers to start in July. Ah well. Life.

You know how I wasn't sure what to do next with my WIP? I figured out a plan of action. Before I dive in and do yet another edit, I have one person reading through to make suggestions on which sections could stand some beefing up or fat-trimming. Meanwhile, for the last few days, I've been itching to just get in and start skimming it myself. But today I came to a solution that will work. I think. It would be a waste for me to go through and start looking for places to fix, when someone else is doing that for me. After I get back their notes, I can tackle everything. In the meantime, what's a writer to do? I'm floundering. Solution: Review a different book. I have five novels in various draft stages in my computer. I don't want to get sucked too deeply into a side project, though, so I'm going to take the one at the simplest stage and fix some background work. One of the five novels is not even a complete first draft yet. I started it to try my hand at "lett...

I was going to come in and write "DONE!" because I finished adding in the extra text chats that tie the two subplots together, but then I saw that I've been overusing the word "done". I'm not truly done. I am, again, done with a step. It did not take long at all, after reviewing the manuscript and writing in what I wanted where... so easy to just drop that into the Scrivener version. According to my to-do list the next step is sending it out to beta-readers, but I was impressed by the weakness of my writing as I re-read it the last couple weeks, so I may be in for one more edit. I need to liven things up.  Some scenes are great as-is. I'm really proud of them. Other parts I know I'm just trying to fill in blanks. And do I really need all of it? Also, I noticed a lot of passive voice. I'm not sure what I'll do, so I'm taking a day or two to try and figure it out.

I finished the manuscript review before 9:00 a.m. today, and I think I found good places to keep both subplots connected. That's the good news. I've been struck as I read it by what a terrible writer I am. That's the bad news. Not everywhere. There are some scenes that I think are truly great, just not the whole thing. And that's not good. That makes me want to re-edit again. But enough is enough! I'll start going in and adding the text chats and the small edits I made. (A few small edits are larger changes, as the book continued and I grew disgusted with myself.) It shouldn't take too long because I'm not doing a wholesale edit. I'm not! Then, the readers, and by the fall I hope to be ready to query. Anybody interested? 

Yes! A few days ago I finished the edit of my WIP. Woohoo! Such a relief. It's not done, of course. I printed out the manuscript (I had exactly the right number of pieces of paper for it - whew) and now I'm going through to find places to add a new element. To connect the two subplots, I want to insert some text chats between the main characters while they are apart. So now I'm reading the manuscript to do that... and trying not to add edits. 🙈 I am noting typos and a few word changes, but refraining from wholesale editing. My reasoning for the small edits is simply to make the next version more readable for my BETA READERS! The last time I sent this to readers, at least one of them consistently pointed out typos (not her purpose). If I can eliminate them, it will not be a distraction and my readers can focus on characterization and plot-points. SO, to sum up: 1: Now adding text convos and minimal typo corrections into printed manuscript. 2: Next putting those into the sc...

When I hit the climactic scene in my editing, things started rolling forward more quickly. That's good. A book should be un-putdownable by that point. I'm making fast progress in my editing, and it's good. This is a well-written book. Next will be figuring out querying. That scares the life out of me. But it's got to be done if I'm ever going to be published. And I'm good. I know I am. I'm worth having a book out there.  This is becoming a point of pride, in a way, but more than that it's a drive. I know this is my destiny and it will happen. The process is the process and I can't skimp on it. Wish me luck. 

I find it's important for me to track what I'm doing. While editing I don't count words. I don't count hours. I ensure that I get through a scene a day, sometimes two. ...If I'm honest, this month there have been days when I've gotten stuck in a scene and flip into writing mode instead, finishing the scene the next day. Overall I'm being more diligent with what matters, though.  Every day I: edit, write, study. I also read daily, but I'm not tracking that this month. Too much writing and editing, and I'm trying to build the habit of daily study. It's hard when I'm not going for a degree or anything. Next month I will add a goal to be more diligent on this blog. Weekly, most likely. For now, I'm going through the process. All the nitty-gritty that needs to be done in order to prep for publishing. I just hope I'm doing it right.