An apology for my negligence

The line edits are turned in.  More on that in a later post with a scary picture of my copy.  Promise.

The portion of my brain occupied by line edits is now free again and learning how to function in the real world.  Give me a few hours.

This means more blogging, faster response to emails, finally finishing those guest posts and critiques I owe people, and some quality time with all you lovely people.  I owe you.

But for now, I clean my house.  Because it needs it.  You have no idea how much it needs it.

This is your brain on edits

"What do you mean it's not clear?  I've clarified that like 20 times based on 5 people's feedback.  It has to be clear."

"Maybe it's still not clear."

"Why can't I make it clear?"

"I'm running out of ideas on how to make it more clear."

"Nothing's clear, because it all comes from my head (see above picture)."

"If it comes from my head and it's not clear, it must be because I'm a horrible, no good, terrible writer."

"Oh, I think I figured out how to make it clear."

"What do you mean it's not clear?  I've clarified like 21 times..."

This is your brain on edits.*

*I should clarify (ha!) that I adore my agent and editor, and they always make things clear to me that weren't before.  Now hopefully I can do the same for the manuscript. (Is that clear? :)

The 5 Stages of Editing

1.  Denial - "My book is in such great shape.  The edits will be cake.  Heck, I might not even have any!"

2.  Anger - "I cannot believe the readers can't follow that.  How many times do I have to say it?  So unfair!"

3.  Bargaining - "If I change the name of that character, I can keep the completely unnecessary, but awesome love scene, right?"

4.  Depression - "I will never get this done.  I'm a worthless hack of a writer, and my very touch is destroying anything good about this book.  Maybe I should drink a bottle of wine."

5.  Acceptance - "Wow.  This is so much better than it was before.  In fact, it actually makes sense.  My editor is a genius."

I believe I'm clocking in at step 4...good news is that I'm close to 5, bad news is that it's all relative.

How I edit

As a writer I love to see other people's processes, and I thought I'd share what works for me -- maybe it will work for you, too.

1.  I use a hard copy.  Every time I finish a draft, I shoot a draft over to Officemax to print and bind it.  I mention this because I told my critique partner to try it recently and she called me excited because the book was out of her head.  It really helps to see it on paper.  Just grab a nice red pen to use.

2.  The first draft/edit/rewrite, I do chronologically.  Then I read it straight through again, make more notes on the new hard copy.  Then do a second rewrite/edit of random chapters.  This helps me to keep from feeling like the revision is monotonous. Additional scenes and conceptual issues are dealt with one at a time, added in and changed gradually. Then the final edit I do chronologically to ensure everything flows.

3.  I use a cookbook stand to hold my hard copy while I put my notes into the file on my computer.

4.  I take my netbook everywhere while I'm working on a manuscript.  It weighs like 3 lbs and fits in my purse.  You never know when you'll get work time, and if you do find yourself sitting around with time to kill, you'll wish you had it!

5.  I outline rewrites/revisions in terms of overall plot, subplots, character arches, and important themes, using a giant bulletin board and notecards in my master bedroom.  I'm adding a huge dry erase board for book two!

6.  And my favorite writing/revision trick:  Sign up for a gym with childcare and work on your kindle or hardcopy while you work out.  Two child-free hours go pretty far.