I had a wonderful break this week, even though I was missing Little Monster who was a couple hours away at Grandma's house. I started revising, and have learned a very important fact:
I hate it.
Seriously. You have to sit there and look at every little note or critique and think about whether you want to change something or not. Then you have to go in and figure out how to change it. Then you have to go in and actually do the changing.
It's very tedious, but it's gotta be done. The only good thing is that I *think* I'm making my manuscript a lot better. I started writing a it while ago, and I've learned a lot since then.
But dude, it takes
But I want to do it because I believe that everyone needs to do at least one revision. Probably more. I can't say how many everyone should do because everyone's writing styles are different. With me, it takes me a while to crank out a novel (I edit as I go...I know, I know, many of you would tell me to not worry about it but my brain literally does not let me knowingly write a bad sentence) (now, unknowingly writing bad sentences is a whole different thing...that's why we need crit partners and revisions) so I hope I won't have too many rounds of revisions.
So this brings me to a couple of
Last year was called "2010: The Year of Writing The First Novel and Taking Way Too Long To Finish But Also Starting A Blog and Meeting Awesome New Friends".
This year will be called "2011: The Year of Revisions, Queries and Hair Pulling"
At least, I hope I get that far. Not the hair pulling so much, but it's kinda of inevitable- with querying comes hair pulling. It's kinda like a deep fried chocolate covered oreo and nausea. You can't eat one of those suckers without getting sick. But you eat it anyway because you love the taste no matter what the outcome.
I'm not setting myself anything too lofty because if I don't make my goals I'll basically die a slow death, agonizing over the fact that I didn't meet them. I'll just get this thing polished and ready to go out. Easy Peasy right? Yeah...I'm not gonna jinx myself too much. Hey, if it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen. I'm not going to cut corners just to make my goal within the year. This thing has to be perfect in my eyes. So I'll do whatever it takes to make it that way.
Just gotta work hard and put my mind to it. Like Jessie, Lisa and Kelly once sang: "Put your mind to it, Go for it...Get down and Break a Sweat". And that's exactly what I intend to do for 2011.
How about you all? What are you goals for 2011?
21 comments:
Yeah, revising is absolutely no fun. Well, sometimes rewriting scenes is fun. But making sure everything looks just right is hard. I find I miss things all the time. Hopefully you're better at catching your own mistakes than I am.
I'm starting 2011 revising alos... however this is the fourth novel that I've written and it's probably the 90th set of revisions I've done. I feel your pain, but it does get less daunting, I assure you. I refer to them as revision wars.... becaus everyday tends to feel like a battle.
Good luck with those revisions! I look forward to hearing more about them :)
Welcome back!
I'm one of the few weirdos that kind of enjoys revising. It can be daunting, but I love making things as close to perfect as possible. Perhaps it's the OCD . . .
I prefer goals as well. Mine's to polish the sequel to my book enough for my publisher to accept it. And don't hate me, but I enjoy revisions. Writing the first draft is what kills me.
Hahaha. Awesome. That forever picture cracked me up. Best quote from a baseball movie ever. ANNNNNNNNNNND now I have that song stuck in my head. Woo.
I HATE revising too! Ugh. Oddly glad you do too...
I love revising! The pulling apart and smashing back together!! But...it's hard to know where to start. At the moment I'm stuck between line edits and characters arcs, but I'm ditching that this afternoon for some serious look at plot. See? I can't focus. When I do, though, I love it. So my resolution/goal is to have the rewrites done and be querying by Spring!
Tedious describes revising perfectly. I edit as I go too. Take it easy on the hair! :0) Glad you're off to a good start. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your revision journey. Christy
I will be there along the way to encourage you to get your manuscript ready for publishing! Team ******** for the win. (I am assuming you can fill in the starred blank for yourself ;) )
I have that same goal as you with my manuscript. Good luck!
I can commiserate with you anytime you want... I hate editing, too. Like you said, everyone's style is different, so I pray you only have to do one round of edits, as opposed to my million or so.
This year I am on to the first draft of my second book. I sort of arbitrarily decided I want to write first drafts for two novels this year... we'll see how that goes :~)
Ahh, yes, 2010 was the Year of Revising for me. It's horrible. It's necessary. It makes you want to puke, read anything else, eat chocolate, then puke again.
Sorry, that isn't helping. If you really get in a bind, drive to Wisconsin and pull my hair. I can take it. :)
Go Abby!
erica
Good luck. I hate revisions too.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author
Ooh, good luck with the revisions. I'm right there with you! "2011: The Year of Revisions, Queries and Hair Pulling" - love it (*chortles*).
Happy New Year!
Rach
WElcome back, Abby! Yes, 2011 will be a year of revising for me, too... *argh* querying as well, but hopefully not much hair pulling (mine's too thin already...) BEST of luck to both of us!! :)
I adore the Saved by the bell photo!
2011 will definitely be a bit of both for me. Revisions are tough, I cry a lot while I'm revising, it's very emotional. One day I might like it. Who knows when.
Now that I have a certain amount of chapters (about 1/3 of the way through the novel),
I go back and forth between writing a new chapter and revising an old one. Helps me notice any inconsistencies with the plot or characters. Both are easy some days and hard others.
Happy New Year! I like you goals. I have similar ones too. I need to finish my WIP, revise it and send it out. I'm excited but nervous!
Revising can mean rewriting when it comes down to it, for me, but it sure looks better with polish. I'm pleased to meet another aspiring YA fantasy author. Fun post. I look forward to more :)
Ugh, I know I'm going to get so tired of revisions soon. It's definitely a tedious process. Good luck! And yay for Saved by the Bell!
I like surface revision (line editing) -- but structural overhauls scare me senseless, even when it's only for a short story/novella, so I can sympathize. I'm wishing you the best of luck with your revisions -- and with your 2011 goals!
Man, I hate it too. I was so hoping I was going to turn out to be a natural and love revision!
I will be sharing your goals in 2011--fingers crossed for both of us!
Yeah, it does take forever. But it's worth every minute!!!! :o) Good luck this year!
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