Okay, I’ve gone on and on about how the rewrite stage is my favorite. I’m officially past the halfway mark in my book and my plan is to be done by the end of May. (Not sure why I pick the most difficult kid/school month to do these things, but I never seem to pick the easy routes.) The book is much longer than I thought. In rewrites, I add all the scenic detail, the subtle nuances of character–it adds up. Plus, I’ve always gone by the 250 words per page count method and have learned recently that a lot of publishers prefer the actual count now. That really upped the numbers.
I’m still enjoying the rewrites, but I realized that I started this book so long ago and I’ve worked on the beginning of it so many times, I can no longer read it objectively. Plus, here I am over halfway and I realized I left out an important character trait–one that should have come up at least twice! Once again, I have to go back and thread something in.
You know what? That’s okay.
In the past, my own perfectionist issues had me polishing and polishing things until it crippled my career. For the most part, I’ve blasted past that old trait. Yay! I realized that I really do want this as a career and if that’s going to happen, I need to just do my best and send the books out.
Yeah, things can always be better. Even a smudge. And yeah, not everyone will like my book. In fact, I know quite a few family members who should probably stay far away from it. heh heh
But, I’m pretty happy with these rewrites. In part of my mind, there’s a constant voice yelling, “You still have all that cool research to incorporate!” But there is this calmer and very much in control voice winning the argument. “No, don’t overload–keep it simple and clear. You write best-tight.”
A lot has changed with my new approach to writing. Now, when I’m not doing rewrites, I’m outlining the next book in this series and funny enough, my fingers are itching to get started on it. I’m looking forward to that first draft stage as much as I looked forward to the rewriting layers stage.
Wow, I finally feel like a real writer. 🙂
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For anyone who follows some of the wild blog dramas that spark on some of the “real” snarky sites on the net, this is simply wonderful. Very, very funny! Mrs. Giggle’s Blog Drama Drinking Game. If you don’t recognize the names Karen, Monica, Bam or Nora–you might not get it.