I am in revision hell. The last three weeks I have sent my draft to my crit partners/betas and as they have come in I've been making corrections for editing/grammar issues, deleting, adding, fixing, and revamping. In fact, Monday I spent about 4 hours deleting entire scenes. Why? Because as I went through my draft I realized I had too much in the book. It's the first in what will be a connected series (same city each book but the focus will be on a different set of main characters, but there will be a mystery that connects all of them), and I realized I had stuffed too much information in Book 1. It was full of extraneous information that either the reader doesn't need at this point, or could be spaced out in the other books. It was hard cutting out huge sections, but after skimming through after the chances, I realized the flow is much improved. However, now I have a nagging doubt in the back of my head that I am too heavy on the relationship of the main characters and not enough on the mystery/suspense. It's a fine line really, cause I don't want people to read it and think the suspense element was just thrown in for no reason. There is a purpose for it, and the suspense aspect (and what happens because of it) helps the heroine (and hero) move forward and grow as individuals. Without it, the story wouldn't make sense. *sighs* I think I am being too picky. I need to unwrap the (figurative) steel grip I have on the book and let it go.
Needless to say, my head is about ready to explode. But the end is near, and I have three more scenes to correct/revamp and then well, then I can say it's "done."
One good thing about this entire revision process--I've learned what not to do for the next book. Before this, I've never completed a full length novel. This novel is 71K words. That amount of words, for me, means I need to be more organized and set out a chapter/scene outline before I start and edit in sections. I know some say that is a no-no, but for me editing in sections will make the revision process a bit less overwhelming.
And now, here is my final ROW80 update and a quick summary how I did this round:
Writing Every Day: Done! I think after two rounds of ROW80 I have finally made this a habit. I write something every day on either my current WIP or make notes/outlines for the others. It's just become something I do now without thinking, same as me waking up and making a cup of tea.
Book 1: I wanted to have this done and published by the end of the round. Well, it isn't but, it is 98% done. I will finish those three scenes mentioned above this week and by the end of next week hopefully have a cover.
Book 2: My goal had been to be further along here, but I am not doing too bad. While writing the first in the series I've been able to write a bunch of notes for the second, and even have a partial chapter/scene list (in addition to the approx. 25K words I already have down.) This will likely be the focus of the next round.
Social Media: I've been more active on Twitter and I definitely lurk more! I know, it's a shock. :) As for blogging, well, it's been awhile (almost 3weeks), but I did post yesterday about my vow to give up on the news until after the election. You can read it here if you'd like.
Being Active: This round I've averaged about three short (20 to 30 mins) workouts per week. Better than nothing I suppose.
Reading: My goal was to read one book per week. I averaged about 3 per week so I am way ahead here. I have also been more active on Goodreads with reviews and updating my books read. I only have 3 more books to read to meet my yearly goal of 75. Woot! If you'd like to follow/friend me on Goodreads, feel free to do so!
Well, that's it for me. I've learned a lot this round, especially about what I'm capable of, and what I can accomplish if I truly set my mind to something. Yeah, I am technically behind on the timeline I had set for myself but I'm not going to be too hard on myself for that. Rushing Book 1 would have meant putting something out there that wasn't ready, something that I wasn't comfortable with.
Hope everyone had a great Round and hope to see you October 1 for the start of Round 4!
Congratulations on the progress you've made! I've come to love editing and revising since finally getting my old books converted and reformatted last year, after not having access to them for a decade.
ReplyDeleteYou've made some great progress this round :) I'm yet to finish a first draft of anything, but one of my friends who has finished a few novels now says that her first one was almost like an apprenticeship, or practice for when she wrote her following books, which I think is an interesting way of looking at it. At least you'll have plenty to keep you busy next round!
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