Just a Tuesday in February

So, only a few more scenes left to rewrite, but they're doozys!! Juuuuuust finished one this morning that I've been working on for nearly a week, but it was one of those scenes that you just have to plug away at slowly. I THINK I made it better. Hopefully. We'll see how it holds up when I do my read through.

All the scenes I have left are going to be similarly slow in coming, I think. Which is daunting. And I'm fast-approaching the extremely important ending scenes, which frighten me immensely. This is so hard!!!! But worth it. Well, hopefully. :-D

Onwards and upwards!

ETA As of 3:00 I just finished another scene!! And I think it might be awesome! Woohoo!!!

Trouble right here in River City…

Oh man. I've gotten to the rough sections and I don't know what to DO. As they stand, they're really not that bad and fairly well written, but I don't think they make a lot of sense, and I don't think they fit with the previous scenes I've rewritten. It's so hard to recreate stuff like this!! What do I DO? Ack!

But just because I like something doesn't necessarily mean it fits in with the story and should stay. This is hard man.

Yesterday I mostly avoided my book, then finally rewrote a short scene that I hadn't planned on rewriting but I'm glad I did. Then I further procrastinated by writing a song—though to be fair the song kind of wrote itself, so maybe that doesn't count. :-)

I think I need to do more head scratching and get back to it, right?

Right.

Thursday Updates!

So I've only written a few scenes since Monday, including one today, but I'm definitely making progress, which is encouraging! I just sat down and reread all the scenes I've rewritten since I started this process, and I actually really liked them. I'm able to be really creative/imaginative/just-plain-crazy with these scenes, and it's all kinds of freeing and awesome. I was so tentative with my ideas the first time around that I wasn't really exploring all of this second world's interesting potential, and I'm definitely doing more of that now. I just hope I'll be able to keep everything semi-consistent!

I've got a few pretty epic scenes coming up, and an entire ending to make awesomer. This is getting intense, but I think I'm gonna come out of this with a better, stronger novel.

Also, it is a lovely rainy day.

Also also, Lizzie Bennet Diaries is getting so intense!!!

Happy Thursday!

Two Things

Well, two good things to report!


1. My mom and I have CHALLENGED each other to get a certain amount of work done on our respective projects by March 7th—if we do, we get to go to Baskin & Robin. :-D My specific goal is to get all new/rewritten scenes done and have my manuscript ready for a next-draft edit, by which I mean I'll start at page one and read everything, including new bits, and make changes as I go to work new material into old, etc. It makes sense in my head. :-)

2. My husband and I cleaned out our back room, which means we both have access to our desks and I have a legit writing space!! If only I use it for good and not distraction, I mean evil. :-)

Okay. Off to watch today's Lizzie Bennet Diary before I get to work. Obviously!!

Jump Start

So earlier in the week my blog post was going to go something like this:

I haven't really gotten much writing done and everything's confusing and I don't understand how to fix the things I need to fix!!

But that was earlier in the week. :-D

Tuesday, after getting a brand new driver's license with an updated photo and my married (!) name, I met my BFF at B&N for an hour and started handwriting a scene that jump-started my metabolism—I mean my brain. I spent the first part of Wednesday finishing the scene and staring at my outline synopsis thing until I went a little cross-eyed, but I made some good decisions and was able to plow ahead. Today I wrote another new scene and am quite pleased with how it turned out—of course I haven't reread it yet, so anything could happen there. :-)

I'm slowly working through the novel how I'd originally intended—rewriting/reevaluating the problematic scenes one at a time. I'm printing out the rewritten/brand new scenes on green paper (leftover from my wedding!!), taping them into my manuscript, and buggering on. The plan is to get through the whole novel that way, then start at the beginning, do the edits that need to be done, make sure all the new bits fit okay, cut what needs cutting, etc. I think this is gonna work. I hope so!!

Also, I think I should get some kind of award for battling my MacBook this week. Not only does the screen go black if it's at the wrong angle, there's something askew with my trackpad that makes my cursor jump around and haphazardly delete things whilst I'm typing. I can eliminate that problem by plugging a mouse in, which I will forever do now, but still. Kind of lusting after a new computer, I'm not gonna lie…

All right, that about does it. I kind of like that I rebooted my blog and didn't tell anybody and so no one is actually reading this. :-D I figured if I could be consistent for a month or two, I might spread the word again. We'll see.

Peace out!!

All or Nothing…

So I'm back revising my novel—or at least trying to figure out how to revise my novel. My focus for this revision is just one aspect of the story/world, and I was hoping to be able to only work on those sections and be able to leave the rest of it alone. Unfortunately I'm realizing that's not quite going to work.

I still don't think this will be as drastic of an edit as the last one, but changing one thing means changing everything, at least a little. I worked on tightening my pacing so diligently in my last draft that I'm having to reevaluate more than I wanted to, because new/added scenes obviously affect it. I also feel like the length of the novel as is is PERFECT, which means I need to cut cut cut if I add anything.

I'm working off of an entire novel scene list again in an attempt to reacquaint myself with the big picture. It helped sooo much last time. We'll see.

I WILL figure this out.

THIS IS WORTH IT!!!

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Just a quick post to say……

If you're not watching The Lizzie Bennet Diaries on YouTube, you're missing out and you need to start immediately!

It's modern day Pride and Prejudice as seen through Lizzie's video diaries, and it's complete genius. Start here:

http://lizziebennetdiaries.tumblr.com/playall