After a week of living through one of the worst colds I’ve known in a long time, I seem to be back to “normal”. Of course, today I head back into the office, and I’m likely to walk out of there with sniffles and various illnesses, so by this evening I’ll know for sure if I’m really over what I had.
I still have an infection in my right ear, ’cause there is this incessant ringing there, and everything sounds muffled. I’ll put a warm cloth on that this afternoon once I’m home; perhaps that will help.
At least I can get back to my writing . . .
I’m the first to say that after finishing the edit on Echoes, I had no idea what to do next. Oh, I know: I have a couple of things I could get into, but I feel as if I’m not ready to go there. It’s like my mind is just–locked up, or something. The creativity button, or whatever I need to push to get things going, isn’t working very well.
In the meantime, I’ve delved back into Her Demonic Majesty for one last polish. And man: am I glad. I’ve run it through a couple of passes already, and I know I’ve caught a lot of things, but this time around I’m really looked to get it rewritten the way I want–
Only a chapter and a half in and I’ve done the rewriting.
Don’t take this to mean it’s a bad book, or that I’m totally tearing it the hell up because it’s totally sucko. On the contrary: I’m making it better.
There was a comment made on Facebook the other day–oh, there’s something new, right? It really started in jest, I know. Someone was making a comment about their NaNo Novel, and they said something like, “I didn’t plot it out and it’s the best; next!” I joked back, “I did plot out my NaNo Novel, and it’s the best! Next!”
As the Internet abhors any semblance of mock happiness, some wag posted back, “Who says it’s the best?” Oh, sure: the ultimate slam. Your stuff is the best? Prove it!
I’ll tell you who thinks it’s the best–
Me.
That’s something I wouldn’t have said over a year ago. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything good about my work. I would give you every reason why it was going to fail, or why it was going suck harder than the proverbial hooker with a mile-long garden hose.
These days, I can step back and look at a work with a fairly critical eye. I might feel that finding a home for it is going to be hard, because it might be out there a bit, but I don’t the story sucks because of that. No, it might need a little editing, but the story does not suck.
I can tell when it is starting to suck–
When I dismiss it from my head.
Because if I don’t feel like I should think about it any more than necessary, then it’s not worth doing. But if the ideas are still there; if I’m getting something I just can’t shake, then I know it will see the light of day.
Which reminds me . . . on the drive here yesterday I thought up a new way of doing magical fireballs.
Wait until Annie hears about this.
May 9, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Editing is a funny thing. Sometimes I edit and go “Oh wow, I really enjoy this project it is going to be great!” and sometimes I edit and go “Oh my God. I can’t believe I wrote this. I should have my hands cut of. What make me think I could write?” Usually while reading the exact same chapter, just on different dates.
May 9, 2012 at 5:25 pm
I’m discovering I’m enjoying editing a lot more than before. Last year, I didn’t want to think about it. This year, with more writing under my belt, I’m finding out why it’s important.
May 9, 2012 at 5:29 pm
How long do you usually wait between the time you finish the draft from the time you start editing? I usually like to wait a while so I can meet it with “fresh” eyes.
May 9, 2012 at 5:55 pm
I did the revised draft on my NaNo Novel like a month after I wrote it, but I haven’t touched it since.
May 9, 2012 at 5:57 pm
That sounds similar to my time frame.