Another draft down! Wo-hoo!
This draft is a fun one, because I get to put in chapter markers. That, for some reason, is Big Joy for me. It has chapters! Twelve of them! And they are numbered!
(Please forgive the uncharacteristic use of the exclamation point. I generally refrain. But sometimes, you just gotta do it. Or at least I do.)
Just because I have finished another draft, well, that doesn’t mean that I’m done. At least not Done-done. But this is my 2nd write-through, so next step is to print it out (sorry, trees, but I love my eyeballs, too) and read it over on paper, beginning to end, making the changes that I need to make. Then I send it to a few readers. I used to use J. and A., my oldest nieces. But, see how they’re in college now? It makes it harder for them to just go ahead and drop everything to read my manuscripts into the night. Not that they’d say no if I asked, but I’m all responsible, so I won’t ask.
Instead I’ll make my Kids 1 and 2 do it. I can handle the responsibility of keeping my own children up too late.
Also I have some writers read it. This is helpful on several levels. Do I need to tell you the levels? Okay. 1. Adult conversation. Need it and love it. 2. Writers read differently than readers do. They back me to the wall when I get lazy, and they demand my best work (whereas my Kids 1 and 2 demand only some good kissing scenes*). 3. They say where it’s good, but they also say where it needs to be better, and sometimes, they suggest how I can get there. 4. When we read in person, together, they laugh out loud. This is a bonus, but maybe my favorite bonus. 5. Sometimes, they don’t get it. And that is good. Because I didn’t explain it enough. So I get to go do it again. Better than before.
And after my readers and writers get their hands on it, I re-polish. Maybe that isn’t a word (yet) but it means I go again, see? Because even then, it’s not done. Considering that I’ll polish it up another time or three or four, then submit it to my publishing people, and they’ll give it a thumbs down (which is what we hope NOT to have happen) or a thumbs up, with a few (thousand) suggestions to make it even more polished. And then I’ll do it again. See? So when I write, I hope not to grow bored of my characters quickly, since I get to hang out with them several dozen times through their story.
But for now, we shall do the celebration dance for finishing another draft. Then we will make rosemary bread. Because draft-finishing is delicious, and so is rosemary bread.
Bye!
*This is a lie. They demand no such thing. I am shamelessly using their numbers in vain.
(10) Comments for this blog
Well, I’ll demand the kissing scenes! They better be in there.
Well, I’ll demand the kissing scenes! They better be in there.
Need any more writer readers? My sister would be a great one! Yay for finishing a draft!!!
P.S. I use waaaay too many exclamation points…and ellipses!
Need any more writer readers? My sister would be a great one! Yay for finishing a draft!!!
P.S. I use waaaay too many exclamation points…and ellipses!
Yay! I love the feeling of being done. Congratulations!
But I have to say that right now, more than usual, I am hating HATING revisions.
I feel better for having said so.
Yay! I love the feeling of being done. Congratulations!
But I have to say that right now, more than usual, I am hating HATING revisions.
I feel better for having said so.
Congrats on another ms done! Woo hoo!!!!! =D
Congrats on another ms done! Woo hoo!!!!! =D
Congratulations, hun! Can’t wait to read it some day!
Congratulations, hun! Can’t wait to read it some day!