Yup. It's that day again. The day I ask you to share goals, make them public, and answer to them the following week.
A roundup of last week:
PJ was working on revisions (but she's on vacation right now).
Stephanie set a daring goal of 12k.
Eric didn't make a specific goal but I'd like to think he's actively writing.
Tyler also didn't state a goal but I know he's working on a rewrite.
Nevets was getting behind. Hopefully he's back on track.
Heather was pretending to ignore me.
Sheri didn't state a goal but she chimed in on my writing question. How's the writing Sheri? Your meter says 90% done. Woo!
Rhonda also chimed in on last Wednesday's question.
If you want to review last week's thread, you can find it here.
As for me...
Prior Goal: Finish draft by 05/15
Accomplished: Yes!
Goal for new week: Ehh... knock out some major revisions?
Excuses / comments: I'm on somewhat unfamiliar grounds all of a sudden. I don't have a process for revision and this novel needs a lot of it. Fortunately, Heather gave me a rundown on her process and it's a great one. I've decided to combine her advice with Holly Isle's One-Pass Revision technique whilst reviewing my three favorite writing books: The First Five Pages, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, and Plot & Structure.
So far there are things I love and hate about revising. I've noticed, in some cases, it's best to rewrite a scene from scratch on a new document. It helps to prevent me from clinging to sentences I've already written, and therefore gives me an increased chance at finding a better way to word something.
Wednesday Question: Do you have any tips or thoughts you want to share on revising and editing? Do you love it? Hate it? And of course, how are your goals coming along?
15 comments:
I love it and hate it, with most of my energy directed toward the hate side. My goal this week: go over my novel one more time and send it to the two people who've asked to see it. I will, I will, I will. IwillIwillIwillIwillIwill.
YAYYYYYY! I'm so happy for you. What a huge relief--I hope you partied like it's 1999. LOL
As for me--I'm brainstorming/working on proposals for new book ideas. :D
Revisions...there are lots of ways to tackle these. I usually start deep, then move superficial--I'll do a readthrough and tackle setting, character, plot, etc first to make sure those are correct.
Then, I do one more readthrough to tackle language, grammar, punctuation, etc.
Set a daily/weekly goal and stick to it--it's overwhelming if you think, OMG I have to revise this entire book. But don't look at it that way. Instead, say, "Today, I will revise 10 pages" or whatever. It's much easier to tackle, and you'd be surprised how fast you move along.
GOOD LUCK!!
Woo woo! You can do it, Elana!
Thanks Rhonda! We were going to go out to dinner after I completed my draft. But, due to various kid-related circumstances, we ended up at McDonalds. LOL! I actually had a great time, but Jesse owes me a nice dinner somewhere as soon as I'm ready to dump the kids on my dad. :) Mentally, I totally partied.
Good luck on your brainstorming, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on revisions!
I hate it, hate it, hate it but I need it like women need chocolate. I am the worlds worst spellar "speller" so I really have to pay attention. Plus I have this bad habbit of editing a chapter before I move to the next. I wish I could be one of those people who just write and dont stop until they are finished.
My goal is to finish my middle grade novel "Letters to Grandma" by the middle of August. Check out my WIPs at www.splattawayoflife.blogspot.com
Oh and love the new pick, meow.
I'm not in your roundup bit I do have an opinion on revising...
I love it. I love going back in and streamlining, tightening, plain ol' making it better. It makes me happy.
I get happy pretty easily though.
Congrats on your draft! :)
Love revising at first. Then, after staring and changing and re-reading and staring and changing and re-reading, I start to hate it. :)
Any tips - get as many people as you can to read your ms, but be partial to what you listen to. Go with your gut and instincts. If you feel something isn't working - change it. :)
Have fun!
Casey, I have been dreading the moment I had to post this comment. LOL
It's been pretty crappy. I have managed to write each of the past three days, but it's been like pulling teeth out my brain. I just have not been able to kick this sinus/allergy thing that has be totally fogged up.
Tonight, I'll resubmit, "The Best Medicine," somewhere but I don't think I'll have a new submission this week.
For the upcoming week: write on at least one project a day, get some reader feedback on the draft of my houseboat story, and submit something new (probably, "Death, Be Not Me").
Over Memorial Day weekend, Rose and I will have a chance to sit down with printouts of our WIP drafts and hopefully iron out the last details on our novel-length collab work
And, of course, Solitude starts in like 40 seconds, so the Prologue for that will keep me hopping and I have to finish out the full story by just about a week from now.
Whew. That's a lot. My brain better wake up.
Oh and revision? I love it! My best tips are to work off paper and to read aloud, but I know those are personal foibles as much as anything, so I'm not sure how useful they are for others.
Sherry, I used to edit as I went along but I had to throw that out the door when we did a 30k challenge in 39 days challenge (and NanoWrimo last year). I think I finally broke the habit this way.
Oh, I love your blog layout~! Great title, too. Can't wait to do some reading. I'll add you to my subscriptions.
K.M, jump in at any time! The roundup was just to go over who commented last Wednesday. Thanks for chiming in. It IS pretty fun when you can see the improvements coming together.
Thanks so much, Keri! I know what you mean. I have a feeling I'll be pretty sick of reading it by the time I'm truly done.
Nevets, It's a compliment to know you respect the Wednesday Count enough to dread it. Ha! But I'm sorry you're still battling those sinuses and struggling to keep up with your goals (which are great goals, BTW). Hopefully this next week will work out better. Looking forward to following Solitude.
And I plan on working off paper and reading out loud as soon as I have the big stuff out of the way. Right now I have to change so much that it would be a giant waste of paper and ink.
: )
Thanks everyone!
I do respect the word count, and I appreciate your treating what could easily be your own personal report as an opportunity for the rest of us to hold each other accountable.
And, I know it goes against prevailing wisdom. I never, ever suggest another writer do this because I know it's bad form. But part of the reason I revise as I go rather than waiting until I get the whole thing drafted is that it makes it a heck of a lot less daunting for me.
(a) By the time I have a whole manuscript, I know it's at least beyond the really rough stage, so it's not as scary to read through it all as unit.
(b) I catch a heck of a lot of the major stuff early on, because I'm reading Chapter 1 through the fist half of Chapter 2 that I just finished, and Oh, oops, there's a continuity problem -- or whatever.
Like I said. Not recommending it. But personally, it makes the revising process much less of a zOMG moment and much more of a zOMG moment.
Gotta love slang that works both ways. haha
Wow! You are all so inspiring. Maybe I'll actually push myself to get another draft finished. And stop ho humming!
It's not really bad form, Nevets. If that's the way you work best, that's totally fine. I definitely wish this MS was in better shape! Lots to do, lots to do.
You should, Christina! Didn't you say you pound your stuff out really fast? You should totally get in gear and get another draft done up.
I love it...the transformation is tedious but wonderful. If it's on paper I save every single copy, back to front and stapled (nostalgia). If I am writing on computer it simply becomes new over and over again.
I am a recovering curriculum developer and your blog is super informative for newbies like me!
Thanks so much and welcome, Michelle! I'm trying to expand the informative part of the blog but it's certainly timely.
Hope to see you around more.
: )
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