edit my novel

See, the book I wrote is about a time-traveling dynasty of used book sellers, a plot to stop the revolutionary war from ever happening, and young love. But it’s full of sexual innuendos and swear words and awkward sub-plots. And characters disappear and appear out of thin air, depending on whether I thought they should be there when I wrote it. So it makes no sense and has no target audience. And I simply don’t have the energy right now to fix it, but I do kind of adore it., in all its silliness. So, eventually, I want to polish it and send it off. but we’ll see if I can do it.

i wrote a nanowrimonovel in 2004 and now i want to edit it. this is a long term goal because i have other editing to do and this is a big job. nonetheless it is worth it! i do hope down the line to both edit and submit it. historical fiction was a big bite to chew up but i’m looking forward to trying.

hopefully within a year from now, but i am not counting.

I have finished the first read through of my novel. All 340 pages of it! I’ve done 86 pages in the last two days.

That just goes to show that it is possible, even if it feels like it isn’t. To be truthful, those 86 pages were about reading through, making notes and commenting upon things I liked and didn’t like—not writing new material or even rewriting old material. But still. 86 pages.

Hopefully, I will be able to take the momentum of those final pages and start working on the beginning again. There will be many changes, the most extreme being the point of view. But I also have to do a lot of continuity work, since so many of my ideas changed over the course of writing. And I want to add in some parts that show the institutions they live in and live with—so I don’t have to bore the reader with all the formality. I can just have pieces where we see formal announcements, documents, correspondence, etc. Not sure if they will all be public things, or if we will hear a little about private or secret documents. Maybe a little later on in the novel so that the sinister nature of the Republic starts to come clear.

See, I have been doing a lot of thinking about the book, as I’ve gone skimming through the pages.

Keep the momentum. Keep the momentum.

Yesterday, I revised 30 pages. And it wasn’t some special day where I had hours off from the kids. This was simply because I took my novel and a pen to bed with me, and that was how I wound down. I thought I was going to get tired and pass out like usual, but I got into it.

Today, I just got through another twenty pages or so and I only have 30some pages left in my first read through!!!!!

Holy Frickin’ Shafizzle!

And it’s not even 11 pm. I could conceivably finish my first revision tonight! And then I can cross of my goal of editing my novel and start a new goal of writing the second draft. That is really exciting. I could even, maybe possibly, have a readable second draft done or partly done by the end of September. Or even October, if I am willing to give up part of October, which I had planned for plotting and development of book two. But the writing of book one can definitely contribute the the movement of book two.

That’s exciting.

What’s also exciting is that the end of my book is WAAAAAAYYYY better than the middle, which sucks, and much better than the beginning, which is skimpy with undeveloped characters. While reading through the ending, I actually got the feeling that I was reading a real science fiction novel, like a published one. Cool.

And I’ve come to some decisions. I need to make this all from the pov of the youngest sister. She needs to be with the other two sisters often. Then we will get the older sister’s POVs through dialogue, not navel gazing and exposition… always two things that I rely too much on. And the ironic thing is, I’m actually pretty good at dialogue, but I’m such a Hamlet overthinker myself that my characters always talk talk talk—to themselves. Soliloquy central.

I just hope that I remember there is nothing to be scared of. And I hope I remember how much I like the end of this book, and that the story is not the tripe that I often fear it is.

It’s all okay, we can whip it into shape. Woo hoo! Charge!

I only have 86 more pages to go before I’ve finished my first revision pass through.

I thought I had another 200 pages to go!

You mean I can start rewriting the bugger soon?

A bit farther, actually. Add around 40pages from the first section that isn’t counted in my wordcount. But I’ll stick to saying 172 for organizationals purposes.

It’s been painful. I do a lot of avoiding. But I think last night I came to realize that what I need to do is focus on the large picture. And I shouldn’t freak out about the feeling that my book sucks. I need to fix the problems. Work on character. Keep the conflict, rather than making the characters all nicey n ice. Add details.

All in all, none of the problems are fatal. All fixable. My second pass, when I actually RE-WRITE the whole thing will be when I can fix it up.

In my dreams, I use September to do that… at least part of it.

I want to get my writing habit back up. I don’t really expect myself to be able to all of a sudden start writing a novel from zero, do I? Where am I going to find the time? I have to build the habit up, and I think I’m going to need some time to do so.

I am nervous about Nanowrimo. I’m afraid that I won’t be up to it.

Piffle.

I don’t need to indulge in baseless fears. Last November, I wrote twice as much as I needed to. If I can write an hour a day, I can get it done. I don’t know if you can tell by my posts, but I write a lot. And I do it fast. I am a proliic writer… I just have a problem finishing and showing my work.

So, yeah. Back to the editing. I really have to commit to doing it, even when I’m tired, or wanting to do something not as confrontational.

Which is pretty good. I could whip the whole thing out in a weekend… if I didn’t have two babies, and household responsibilities and you know, a life.

If it were three years ago, I could have done it. Sigh. No use wishing for that time back. I made good use of the freedom when I had it. I just didn’t realize I had something so valuable. I didn’t consider that someday I wouldn’t have the opportunity to dive into projects and lose myself in them. Or be able to concentrate on a big project for a length of time.

For all you 43Thingers out there who are in the explore and adventure phase of your life, take advantage of it, and realize that you have something precious. Don’t wish for another life, live the one you have.

Now, that’s what I’m going to do with this mommy life that I have now. It just takes some adjusting.

Sometimes, I had to work through my constant cringes. Oy. Sometimes I don’t like it at all. Sometimes it’s okay. Sometimes I really like it. The writing needs serious work, that’s for sure. SDT is my favorite comment (Show Don’t Tell.)

The rewriting is a different phase, all together though. I don’t have the time or the room in my head to do rewriting right now. I don’t even really know what the story is. I’ve forgotten it.

I am worried that I will not have the power of concentration that I used to have. I don’t seem to be able to focus down tight enough to make all the pieces fit together.

Maybe I’m a little self critical right now. I am sleep deprived, since one or the other kid was up and awake from 12:30 to 4:30 this morning. Ug.

Ten pages a day. I thik that’s what is called for. I think that’s like half an hour.

I need to break out my old graphs and charts to keep track so I can see my progress concretely. And my timer. I’m sure Rome was built in 15 minute increments. Many, many 15 minute increments.

Yeah! I finished 85 pages, and I am aiming to do 100 more this week, despite summer courses and work…I am off!