Rewrites

Today, I got to do my first rewrite. It sucked. And then it didn't. Explanations coming...

When I first introduced a significant charcter in my book, I had a vague idea of what I wanted him to be. By the time I got to the final third of the book, however, his entire motivation had changed. What I wrote in the last part of the book was fine, but I always knew I would have to tweak the character's earlier chapters.

I finally made it to that chapter today. Knowing I would need to ensure it was foreshawdowed correctly, I read the entire chapter before making a single edit. As I mentioned, it sucked. Not "the writing sucked" (although it needed editing as bad as the rest of the book), the entire chapter was pointed in one direction and I needed it to point another, for I realized this was one of the four major pivots in the book and it didn't set up the next section correctly.

Editing (or, How I realized I have a lot to learn)

As I mentioned, I enrolled in an online editing course recently. I am about halfway through and all I can say is that I have been humbled. But following in the wake of that humility, my confidence is growing.

I thought my writing was decent. I had no illusions that it was perfect or near perfect, but holy crap on a cracker am I glad I didn't begin querying with what I had before I took this course. I have experienced several "Oh shit" moments during this class. Some of them have been of the positive variety, but more of them have been of the /facepalm variety.

The crazy thing is that the concepts are simple. Many times, the fixes are simple. What is not so simple? Seeing it in your own work before it is pointed out.

The awesomeness of all this is I have a growing suite of tools to allow me to become a better writer. Even if this current book never shows up in your e-reader or on your bookshelf, this course will allow me to take those next steps down the road of becoming Published Author. This book or the next or the next. It will happen. Because I believe it will.

So go out and think positive today. And maybe toss a positive thought my way, too. Couldn't hurt. :)

Oh Hells yeah!

I just realized that if I begin querying before the end of the year, then I am actively 'working' on becoming an author.

That makes my trip to Vegas in a few weeks tax deductible!

Annnnndddd....we're back!

So. Miss me? Three plus weeks of work hell are slowly settling down into a new normal. I am finally getting home at a decent time again. Of course, in the middle of everything going on at work, we had to move. The new home is frikken awesome, but I will be befuddled by where everything is for weeks.

With all the work and the move, I haven't been able to write much. I did manage to revise the ending I spoke about in this post, but I have yet to write the final chapter and the epilogue. Partially, its because I am so tired, I can barely pee straight. (I tend to lean to the left a little when I am tired). But I have to admit that it is partially because I am still ruminating on the ending.

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