This is a very hard process- editing my own writing. It feels like I have a patchwork quilt that I tried to sew together with my eyes shut while one hand was tied behind my back and a cat on my lap. I'm picking it apart very carefully now, trying to salvage what's good and what's not so hot.
To recap, here's where I've been and where I'm going with this:
- I started writing on January 28, 2011. I made a list of scenes, and worked my way through them.
- When I finished 20 months later, I waited three weeks.
- Then I read it.
- And cried. (Not really.)
- And then I printed it, and took a pencil to it. A regular one. I'm too afraid of red ink still.
- Simultaneously I followed along with Martha Alderson's blog in December and did Plot Write Month with her.
- I'm now going through and fixing -on the computer, what I marked up -on the printed MS, for plot problems, POV issues, and overall ick.
Chapter One is polished and pretty much done. I've had positive and constructive feedback on it, which helped me to tighten it up, clarify where I was vague, and sharpen when it was out of focus.
I have managed to even write a bit of a real blurb, for a change, too!
I've been engrossed in Query Shark, and am going to a retreat in June and a conference in October. I'm feeling like I'm up to my waist in writing MoJo and I like it!
Comments
i was thinking that since you started writing your book your blog posts are different then they were before. you really do a great job of pulling the reader in and paint a good picture of whatever your blog topic might be that day. not that your posts weren't good before, i just notice a difference as you went along. what i'm trying to say is that i think all those books you read on writing rubbed off! you have a way of making it fun to read your blog, so i can imagine your book will be the same way when it's finished!
keep it up! :)