Just a brief check-in with all my bloggy friends to say hallow, and confirm (yet again) that I've not bitten the big one (yet) (again).
I've been hard at work on edits on my current WIP after running it through the ringer with my critique group, and as of this week I've shipped it off to some gracious beta readers who will tell my what my eyes are too tired to see: what's actually wrong with it. I'm looking forward to it, the way a marathoner looks forward to the walk to the car after a run. Which is to say: yeesh.
Editing for me is a slippery slope. I often complain about clients in my day job changing their mind about how a product should look because they've been allowed to sit with it too long. Which is exactly what I do when I edit a manuscript. I've been left with it for so long that I'm SURE that scene is no longer powerful, and I just KNOW this subplot will be so much better if everyone wears purple. And oh, ha ha, let's just change the name of half the characters because Larry is a stupid name (which, in my defense, it was for that character).
So eventually I had to pump the brakes on myself and take a step back to hand it over to betas. Is it perfect yet? For sure not. But do I know where it's not perfect anymore? For SURE for sure not. I can't be trusted with that red pen, friends. Tis a far nobler thing I do, making my betas read it, than I've ever done before.
So I sent it off to betas, and now I'm decompressing my brain with some good old fashioned reading. I'd forgotten a little bit how to read without the backspace button, and it's surprisingly enjoyable. I'm reading for my book club, catching up on books I bought last year and forgot were in my e-reader, and reading books in the same genre as the next WIP I want to write. It's like finding the sun after being trapped in a mine for six months or so.
I'm big on the similes and metaphors today, apparently.
I'm easing back into a manuscript I started several months ago and sidelined as I worked on revisions for the current WIP, but so far I'm giving myself permission to go slow. I don't have to write every day, and I don't have to pump out 2,000 words every time I sit down.
YET.
I'm not good at the patience thing.
What are you up to? Are you sad the summer is over, or glad the heat is (almost) gone? How are your manuscripts doing?
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5 comments:
After spending so much time editing at my day job, I am finding it harder and harder to read for pleasure. It really does make your brain become hyper critical.
Yesterday I made myself put down a few hundred words of something completely new. It is so hard to just let it flow at the moment. I have to consciously try to think as I did at 13 when I furiously scribbled day in and day out without editing as I write.
Ugh, I also am reeling from the approach of September and mourning the loss of full time writing.
However, I sometimes work better with forced breaks. And a full time teaching position probably counts as a "forced break" from writing.
I'm trying to get the most out of this last 4 day weekend before school gears up completely ... I have some editing, some revising, some planning, and some drafting to do!
Yeah, there comes a time when you just need to have someone else read your WIP and hear what they have to say. Just getting notes from someone on that is an excellent way to get amped back up and get things right.
I'm ready for fall, not because of complaints, but because it's my favorite season! And it will allow me to get more writing done now that my kids are in school.
Enjoy reading!
I LOVE fall, so bring it on!!! YAY for passing it to betas! Good luck with future edits and cool about reading--I'm on reading binge right now too.
Dude, can you believe now it's almost Nov.?! Sheesh.
Yeah, there are many layers of torture in Revision Hell.
Hope all is well. :)
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