I can't believe it's halfway through the week already... whats more it's the 16th, which means that in one month it'll be our wedding day. Far out!
Getting the marriage license today, better do that or there won't be a wedding right? lol, so weird to think that all the planning and work and time spent on this thing is actually going to be paying off in the very near future, I just hope that I don't get that post wedding slump that so many people talk about. Fingers crossed, there is certainly a lot to carry on with afterwards!
I started work on the novel I'm going to submit this year. I read it through. I enjoyed it. And now I am reading it again! lol I have looked at several different methods for editing novels and I started to try several of them, but I just wasn't sure about them... I probably gave up on them too soon, yes. But it's a learning curve for me and I am just going to have to fumble through it I think and if that means it takes me twice as long as it should then so be it, it's learning and I will know heaps more for the next time. I am sure just as the quality of your writing gets better each time you write a new piece, so too does the quality/speed/efficiency of your editing/rewriting stage.
So I'm doing a second read through, I'm making screeds of notes on it, things from time line issues, to facts that need checking, things that have been mentioned which I know weren't tied up, lots of the - well how did that happen? the other things you've written suggest this isn't possible (ie: MC gets on a plane, goes to be with dying sister at hospital, sister dies, she follows sisters wish for her to run off with her son, they drive away.... yeah where did that car come from?? the dying sister certainly didn't drive there and the MC isn't so stupid that even if sister did drive, she'd not drive off in it - sure fire way for the psycho husband to find them quickly! Ya know, the thing she's trying to avoid... hmm). I'm only ten pages in.... and while in some ways it seems really easy to do, it also feels quite tiring. I can pick up on a lot of the things with no problem, I think because I have so much space from it, it's more the thought about the hours I am going to have to put into it to make it better.
It's a good story, there are bits of it that I am so chuffed with, some lines that I just adore, and I have had heaps of feedback from other people who enjoyed it more than I do. So at least I know that it is only going to get better, it's just that I have to be mentally prepared to do the work. It's a little daunting, and I think I'll have to remind myself constantly that it's not crap because it's not - it's just that I'll be focusing so much on the crap to make it not so crappy...that I'm probably going to be spending a fair bit of time thinking it's crap. Maybe? lol we'll see right! early days yet.
So, by the end of the week the goal is to have gone through the whole thing again making millions of notes, and then have broken the story into chapters (which I never write in, but am already starting to see natural breaks in the story). And then next week I'll start working on it chapter by chapter, in order, so that consistency is kept and all is well with the world... estimating.... 4 chapters a week maybe? Seeing as my child is not really keen on letting me work a lot while shes awake and shes only in care 3 avo's a week. So i guess when I know how many chapters there are i'll have a better idea how long this whole thing is going to take... I can tell it won't be done before the wedding! lol
Getting the marriage license today, better do that or there won't be a wedding right? lol, so weird to think that all the planning and work and time spent on this thing is actually going to be paying off in the very near future, I just hope that I don't get that post wedding slump that so many people talk about. Fingers crossed, there is certainly a lot to carry on with afterwards!
I started work on the novel I'm going to submit this year. I read it through. I enjoyed it. And now I am reading it again! lol I have looked at several different methods for editing novels and I started to try several of them, but I just wasn't sure about them... I probably gave up on them too soon, yes. But it's a learning curve for me and I am just going to have to fumble through it I think and if that means it takes me twice as long as it should then so be it, it's learning and I will know heaps more for the next time. I am sure just as the quality of your writing gets better each time you write a new piece, so too does the quality/speed/efficiency of your editing/rewriting stage.
So I'm doing a second read through, I'm making screeds of notes on it, things from time line issues, to facts that need checking, things that have been mentioned which I know weren't tied up, lots of the - well how did that happen? the other things you've written suggest this isn't possible (ie: MC gets on a plane, goes to be with dying sister at hospital, sister dies, she follows sisters wish for her to run off with her son, they drive away.... yeah where did that car come from?? the dying sister certainly didn't drive there and the MC isn't so stupid that even if sister did drive, she'd not drive off in it - sure fire way for the psycho husband to find them quickly! Ya know, the thing she's trying to avoid... hmm). I'm only ten pages in.... and while in some ways it seems really easy to do, it also feels quite tiring. I can pick up on a lot of the things with no problem, I think because I have so much space from it, it's more the thought about the hours I am going to have to put into it to make it better.
It's a good story, there are bits of it that I am so chuffed with, some lines that I just adore, and I have had heaps of feedback from other people who enjoyed it more than I do. So at least I know that it is only going to get better, it's just that I have to be mentally prepared to do the work. It's a little daunting, and I think I'll have to remind myself constantly that it's not crap because it's not - it's just that I'll be focusing so much on the crap to make it not so crappy...that I'm probably going to be spending a fair bit of time thinking it's crap. Maybe? lol we'll see right! early days yet.
So, by the end of the week the goal is to have gone through the whole thing again making millions of notes, and then have broken the story into chapters (which I never write in, but am already starting to see natural breaks in the story). And then next week I'll start working on it chapter by chapter, in order, so that consistency is kept and all is well with the world... estimating.... 4 chapters a week maybe? Seeing as my child is not really keen on letting me work a lot while shes awake and shes only in care 3 avo's a week. So i guess when I know how many chapters there are i'll have a better idea how long this whole thing is going to take... I can tell it won't be done before the wedding! lol
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