It's a real jumble this week. Ghost Girl and Son have driven north to Wilmington, NC to meet Ghost Friends for a mother/son retreat at the beach. That means a lot of crazy 14-year-old boy antics, sun and surf, and very little writing. But I wouldn't trade this week for anything. (I might postpone it for a book deal, though...just saying.)
One thing that nudged me along was a great critique from a writing buddy. We exchanged 3 chapters a few weeks ago, and she sent me my notes yesterday. (Big thanks to @bkslinda) As can often happen in a first draft, part of the story was still in my head rather than on the page. You know those clever little bits of information that you mean to lead somewhere, but somehow you didn't quite get the "somewhere" down on the page? Yep, did that a little bit.
The good news is, revision is my bag. I'm slow on the first draft, but fast and efficient on revisions. By that time, my vision is more complete and the holes are more obvious when I go back over everything.
While my progress wasn't what I had hoped this week, it was what I expected (only about 600 words). Maybe I'll still get in a few hundred while the boys are swimming...
How did everyone else do?
Hooray for vacation! Happy to hear your revision confidence, Mary Ann.
ReplyDeleteToday I will hit 35,000. That's where I was when I dumped the other draft and started all over. I'm much happier with this second first draft, but I'm feeling the need to outline the major plot points for the rest of the story. It's getting complicated.
The scenes I've written this week (maybe you've noticed me venting on twitter) have been making me physically sick. I've had to step out of the story every couple of minutes just so I can breathe. I think this is a good thing, but I'm exhausted.
Hope all my #wipmadness partners are working hard but enjoying a fabulous July.
Enjoy your vacation! What I wouldn't do for a little east coast time. I went home (near Philly) for a week recently, but it just wasn't enough.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your writing! I like revisions, too. At least the first half dozen or so.
I didn't quite make my goal of 33k. I think I'm at 31.8, so close. But my reason is good. I had a third follow-up e-mail from an agent who has a full of my YA wanting more details about this WIP and my sequel ideas for it. So I had to pause and work on that. I hope I didn't blow it, but I'm pinching myself that I"m even this close.
ReplyDeleteHave a great beach week! Wear your sunscreen.
YAY, JRo!! Go, girl, go! Sending good agent vibes your way.
ReplyDeleteAngelina, I think you need a nice relaxing bath, some wine, and a big dose of chocolate. I know what you mean about the getting complicated thing. I'm on that road as well.
Craig, I'm glad you got some (near) Philly time in. I miss it so much.
I hope your vacation goes/went well!
ReplyDeleteIt didn't go as well as I wanted it to this time around, because the week got away from me for the most part. I've been trying to use my lunch breaks for writing time. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. And my evenings were a bit more full this time than they normally are.
But it did lead to some personal epiphanies about what in my WIP manuscript needs changing. I've been processing my beta reader feedback, and while a lot of it is useful, I also need to weigh that with what feels right for the story.
So I'm looking forward to *moving* forward now, because for a little while I let myself get bogged down in "changes made to satisfy the opinions of others". Not that the opinions aren't valid, particularly once distilled, but I also had to listen to myself.
Got a great suggestion at Magical Words today about approaching the story, during revisions, as the reader and not the writer. It helped me to pinpoint a few places where I'm not entirely clear.
Laura
I keep missing the check-ins--sorry! But I am still revising like mad myself (and I'm with you - I love revision too), but I had to re-do some of my recent chapters with a slightly different direction that is SO much better. All good.
ReplyDeleteExcept for the bad. Which is I am almost certain I won't make my goal of finishing the revision by the end of the month, since I'm still shy of halfway and have less than a week left! *sobs* *dashes back into revision*