Working my way through Renni Browne and Dave King’s classic Self Editing for Fiction Writers a chapter a day. It’s really good stuff, which makes my inner perfectionist want to spend lots of time on each chapter and “really get it, you know”? Well, I don’t have time for that, and I do seem to be absorbing a lot.
It has been so long since I really worked on my Nano Novel, Gift of the Ancients that I’m able to look at the advice given and think of places in my work that need improvement, without the strong emotional attachment that makes editing so hard. I find myself looking forward to this process. The hard part is technical in nature. My computer had a lobotomy, but much of it’s memory was rescued. The tricky bit is that the files have no names. I have thousands to go through, looking for bits of my novel.
I have recovered the original document, but I’m missing some of the best revised parts. It’s demoralising to start from scratch again, but I suppose I better suck it in. I mean to do this, even if it means working from totally raw material. And maybe I’ll spend a little more time sifting through files, too!
Onward and upwards…
Go baby go! Proud of you!
You go, girl!
Aw, thanks for the support, guys!
Hey Sunshine!
Good luck in finding your revised bits.
I’ve been enjoying my copy of ‘Editing’ as well. Some of it is far more understandable now that I’ve actually -done- the work on my own writing. Makes sense… it’s one thing to read the advice but once you’ve applied it, it clicks.
The neatest thing about that book that I just did was read it backwards. I had already gone through a few of the first chapters and bits that I knew I needed info from but I’d never made it through to the end.
The chapter on ‘Sophistication’ was soooo good for me to read!
Love ya. Have an awesome day.
Viv
Thanks for the encouragement to get all the way through! It’s getting rather intimidating now though, so many things to remember at once! Maybe I’ll go through focusing on one issue at a time…