A Round of Words in 80 Days Part Deux

Round Two of A Round of Words in 80 Days!

Round Two has officially started, with an inspiring post by Kait Nolan. Here's a bit of it:

"Make a vow this time to have your own little shoulder companion sitting there urging you to make good choices. Maybe for you it will be your favorite writer. Maybe you’ll have a little Stephen King or a Madeleine L’Engle or a Nora Roberts on your shoulder. Maybe you’ve got somebody else who will inspire you to put the writing first. No matter who you choose as your personal mascot, let there be someone who can push you that extra mile. And don’t worry…the rest of us will be there to back you up as well."
That said, my goals for this time around are the same as last - edit the novel!

I start Round Two on page 105 of 195. I've discovered that editing isn't the hard part - it's surprisingly fun and easy to take a few hours in a coffee shop and slash through the manuscript with a red/brown/pink/whatever pen. It's typing up those changes...

I really ought to have a measurable goal for the end of this round, though, so let's say, I'd like to have the novel presentable, but with lots of tweaking needed in terms of research. Then if there's a Round Three (!), I can use it to focus entirely on research (oh, the reading I'll do!).

And on that note - head on over to Medeia's, she's giving away books!

Meanwhile, on that bad review debacle going on (which I first heard about through All the World's Our Page), Nathan Bransford posted a link to a clear and cogent essay on the subject of authors and bad reviews.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm so excited about winning the books at Jessica's. I'll be looking for the notification! Thanks.

I read Nathan Bransford's post on bad reviews. My view is, if you get one you get one. It isn't the end of the world.
Ann Carbine Best’s Long Journey Home
J.L. Campbell said…
Edits...I'm in the middle of one myself and it's a book I thought was finished. Ha!

Wishing you success with getting through them smoothly.

Gonna read that article. Thanks!
Talli Roland said…
Good luck with round two, Deniz. And thanks for the link to Nathan's - it's a wonderful post.
Alice McElwee said…
Good luck with round two, Deniz. Like you, one of my round two goals is to make edits on the first draft of a novella (my other goal is to finish the first draft of another novella).

I agree though, playing with colorful pens is the fun part. But I'm sure you'll be able to work through the rest and type it up by the end of round two!
Unknown said…
Ah, yes, editing... I will be doing that quite soon. I've always thought the typing in the changes part was the worst of that process as well. What I settle into doing is a sort of "half-way" method. I take the colored pen and make the changes on a hard copy, in a certain section. Then when I feel like I know what I am doing (heh, I wonderful and rare event at times...) I go to the computer and start putting the corrections into that section. And then I find myself kind of going along on the computer for a while, because it seems to flow better that way, making changes as I go (I have two panes open, one with the old version and one with the new, that I copy and paste into and type new stuff). I find it fascinating how organic the writing and editing process is, and how no two people really work alike.

Good luck with your editing. Don't let your eyeballs fall out (i.e. take breaks!)!

Melanie
Kait Nolan said…
MEASURABLE GOAL, WOMAN! That means something like "I'll edit x number of pages per day." Not just your end game. :D

Good luck!
Kait Nolan said…
MEASURABLE GOAL, WOMAN! That means something like "I'll edit x number of pages per day." Not just your end game. :D

Good luck!
Claire Farrell said…
I love going wild with a red pen too - but I agree, the actual typing up is the biggest pain.
Katy Bennett said…
Best of luck for round 2
Anonymous said…
Hmm . . Stephen King on my shoulder . . funny, because I'm reading his "On Writing" book and his "The Stand" novel right now. Plus I've watched interviews of him. So yeah, he's conspicuous. lol

Have fun with those markers, I'll be doing that soon . . :)
Anonymous said…
Yay editing! Hope you finish the revision during this round.
Deniz Bevan said…
So glad you received them safe and sound Ann!

I know how you feel J.L. - can you believe I used to finish novels and then just leave them? I never went back to edit, but then I never thought I could take writing as far as publishing before, either.

Thank you Talli and Alice!

I find I work that way too Melanie, even though I'm always blabbing about how I can't seem to work on the computer.

[giggle] Yea, I let that one slip past, Kait! Well, c.90 pages divided by 80 days is... a page a day. If I can be disciplined!

Somehow it's so much more smooth, using a pen, isn't it, Claire?

Thanks Kaite, cm and ashelynn!
Jenny Maloney said…
Go Deniz Go!

A really, really super good book that I just finished reading that you should definitely check out is Susan Bell's The Artful Edit. She's a professional editor and she presents a ton of different ways to gain the disance/perspective needed to edit your own work.
Deniz Bevan said…
Thanks Jenny! And thanks for the tip - one more for the wishlist...
Robin M said…
Good luck with your edits. Nathan is always so wise.
Deniz Bevan said…
Thank you Robin!
Susan Fields said…
Thanks for the Nathan Bransford link - I'll check it out.

Good luck with your editing!