IWSG: Revision-Induced Terror

The first Wednesday of every month is reserved for Insecure Writers Support Group (unless I forget). In these posts, I write about my insecurities as a writer. Make sure to check out all the wonderful bloggers participating!

Revisions.

Edits.

Rewrites.

These words are currently the makings of my writerly nightmare.

Here’s the deal: I am about half through writing the third book in my series. Which means I’m about 40k words or a couple months (whichever comes first) away from having three books to revise.

Three.

What. Was. I. Thinking?

Me, being scared.

When I made the decision to forge ahead with book three, it seemed like a good idea. Get all the details in place, I thought. Continuity is magic, right?

Don’t get me wrong, I like revising. I like turning something messy and cobbled together into a cohesive, smooth, pretty story. It’s fun for me. Unless I’m looking at nothing BUT that for an extended period of time.

I’m not exactly sure how to go about it. I’ve rewritten plenty of times. Hell, I rewrote the same book for years and years. Now, I have (or will have) three solid drafts that don’t need rewrites, just revisions. And it’s scary.

Super scary. 

So. How do you revise? Do you have a method? A process? A trick up your sleeve? Are you hands-on, with printed pages in front of you, or do you prefer doing everything on your computer?

I’m all ears, lovely folks. I need all the help I can get.

Ew, Friday!

Friday. I would say thank God it's Friday, but I work today, and Fridays are frightening in my line of work, sooo...wish me luck!

The sun has finally decided to grace us with its presence. I am thrilled that the rain stopped, even though it's still chilly out there. Spring is definitely a bi-polar season.

I switched up the ticker at the top of my page. I changed the goal to 80,000 words and, as you can see, I'm really close. I don't think I'll be finished with this story in less than a thousand more words -- probably not for another 10k, at least. I was lamenting on this subject last night at writing group. I have just printed off my entire manuscript and it's sitting heavily on my desk, daunting at 321 pages. 321 pages! How did that happen? My main character still has three months of pregnancy left! Not to mention the wrapping it all up scenes at the end of the book! I nearly hyperventilated. But when I mentioned this at group last night, everyone was in agreement that it's better to have too much than not enough. And, boy, do I have too much!

I have to admit, I'm getting excited about the revision stage. I can't wait to get my hands dirty, so to speak. I've got my red pens ready, the chapters all separated (how did I manage to have TWO completely different chapter 5's?) and my editor's brain has already spotted a few typos. BUT! I'm not going to touch it until I've typed The End.

So, how do you guys go about the revision process? Do you wait until you've finished the entire project? Or do you dive right in after the first chapter is written, polish it till it shines, then go back and write another? I've tried it both ways, and I always end up getting caught up and making my first few chapters perdy that I don't get around to finishing it. What works best for you?

Hope everyone has a great Friday! I'm off to write a few hundred words before work!

Edited to thank Officegirl for this adorable award! I'll pass it on in my next entry!

Split Personalities

Three things occurred to me when I woke up this morning. The first being that it's Saturday, the second that I have the day off and the third that it's sun-shiny gorgeous outside. This should automatically imply that I'll be doing something involving soaking up the rays. I might go bike shopping, since I've wanted a bike for a while now and I have a little extra cash with which to purchase one. Other than that, I have no plans. Zip, zilch, zero.

Which means I should either be writing or reading. I started Water For Elephants two weeks ago and just made it to the third chapter. Not for any other reason that I haven't found the time. I've been trying to write as much as possible. It's almost certain that I won't make my 30k goal by the end of the month. That is, after all, about 15k in three days. I've taken the pressure off myself though. I've been getting about a thousand words written pretty regularly each day, almost two thousand on Thursday. I'm trucking along. My story is making progress, though not as quickly as I'd like. But I'll reach the end...eventually.

I've got split personalities when it comes to editing this massive piece of word vomit. Part of me is like a child on Christmas morning -- jumping up and down with excitement to get my hands on that red (yes, I actually edit in red) pen. The other part of me is dragging her feet, afraid of the mess that I'm going to find. It's going to take forever to fix the plot holes and weak characters and awkward dialogue and flat writing that is this novel. And I've never done a full, all the way through, edit. I'm usually the kind of person who writes a couple chapters, then goes back and rewrites what doesn't work. The downfall to this method is that I get so caught up in making these chapters bright and shiny that I don't write any further. I did this with two other novels I started -- one of which is three years in progress. With this one, I want to finish it, to get to the end, then go back and make it pretty. And it's going to take a lot to make this one pretty.

I'm scared.

Anyway, it's now early afternoon and I'm still in my PJs, so I'm gonna get my day started. Hope everyone has a super Saturday!