The Revision Diaries (5)

sometime late last night, i tweeted something that looked a little like this:

I fixed it I fixed it IFIXEDIT!!!

except it wasn't bold or in massive type, because - dang it - twitter doesn't allow us to express ourselves through font!
but big and bold is how i felt after getting past a major hurdle in my line edits.

and really, "line edits" is a bit deceptive here.
often, at the line edit stage, and editor will have a few additional suggestions for revision. one such suggestion, for me, required a lot of pacing around the house and muttering to myself. i avoided the scene for a couple days - if you can call obsessing about it, emailing about it and jotting down notes on it avoiding. what i mean is, i didn't touch the scene in my manuscript. i worked on everything else - the actual line edits, the moments that needed rewording and other minor fixes that were easier to tackle. but i was afraid to mess with this one scene for fear of screwing it up.

over the weekend, i finally ran out of other edits, and i knew i had to face my fear. today, i want to share with you how i faced it and what i learned from it.

face the fear:
- my paralysis came mostly from the fear that the manuscript is pretty well polished, and this edit would require me to tear apart some of those polished pages. to help curb that fear, i took the chapter that would be mostly changed and copied it into a new word document. this way, i could mess it up all i wanted, and the original chapter would remain untouched in my ms. - a small, obvious, solution probably... but it really helped me relax.
- in fact, i liked working in this new document so much, i made THREE of them. and i started to write 3 different scenes - each with a different approach to the "FIX." one scene fell apart so fast and furious, i deleted the whole document. it wasn't even worth archiving under "experiments." the other two scenes worked a little better, and i treated them both like rough drafts - i gave myself freedom to make mistakes ranging from typos to total character revisions.
- then i did what i would do with any rough draft. i sent the scenes to one of my crit partners. with her notes, i was able to see which scene was working. i rewrote that scene, revised it again, then took the now-polished chapter and plugged it back into the manuscript.

lesson #1 - the domino effect:
- as polished as that chapter was, i had created changes that required me to now go through the rest of my clean ms and start mucking things up again - the one thing i wanted to avoid!
but now that i knew i had "fixed it," the other changes weren't so scary. i went backward from the scene to plant some clues of the scene to come, and i went forward in the manuscript to create a few moments that would be altered by the new scene.
- the lesson for me was - no matter how much i tried to isolate the issue, to make it this one small fix in this one small corner of the story - the fact is, any important change will have a domino effect throughout your story, even if the change is small and at the almost-polished stage of your revisions. if the change doesn't ripple through the entire manuscript, it probably wasn't that important to begin with.

lesson #2 - don't be afraid to TRY:
- i agreed with my editor that we needed this "fix," but i wasn't sure if her suggestion for fixing it was the right way. i got it all stuck in my head that i could fix it another way - a way that i had already tried and that wasn't working but that i was sure would have a different result if i kept doing it. hello, definition of insanity!
- the scene i wrote first was my own solution. i wasn't happy with it, but i couldn't figure out how to fix it. so i told myself, just TRY to do what your editor suggested.
well. yeah. my editor - she's a pretty smart cookie.
i liked the second scene so much better. i knew this before i even sent the scenes to my crit partner, but i wanted an outside opinion. ...and that opinion was a clear smack down on scene one and hearts for scene 2. lesson learned: even if an idea doesn't sound like the right solution, just try it out. you may surprise yourself.

so i tweeted to the world that IFIXEDIT! and now i can start my final pass through the manuscript, making sure everything is still polished. of course, it's always possible my editor will say:

Yo. You SO did NOT fix it.

(well, no, that's not actually possible, because my editor is much more eloquent than that - but you get the idea.)
if that happens, you'll know, because i'll be back here with another round of the revision diaries.

but for now:
Line Edits. Conquered.

The Revision Diaries (4)

i got my line edits this week, so you know what that means...
we're in for another round of:
The Revision Diaries: Confessions of an Author on a Deadline!

first, a brief word about line edits, for those not in the know. (those of you who are in the know, feel free to nod your head all, y'know, knowingly as we go along.)

line edits come after an author has done most of the major revisions. instead of big story or character suggestions, your editor will focus in on smaller moments on the page - bits that aren't working or need rewording, beats that are missing, moments that need to be amped up, and of course, lines that need fixing.
the accompanying editorial letter is probably shorter, but the manuscript pages probably have more marks. it's the detail work.

so i have had my line edits for all of 24 hours, and of course, i have already busted out the colored Post Its, consulted with my crit partners and sent one - possibly deranged and definitely way-too-long - email to my editor.
now i am ready to begin the work.

here's all i know for sure about the work that is to come:
it doesn't necessarily get easier.

when you are revising a rough draft, you can take a sledgehammer to that thing. you can go all demolition derby on it and rebuild from scratch.
when you get to revisions with your editor, it's more like tearing down a single wall and building it back up in a different spot, with better support beams and a fresh coat of paint.
and now i'm learning, when you reach line edits, you have to trade that old sledgehammer for a scalpel.

(yes, i know my architectural metaphor just turned surgical. i would fix that, but i'm saving all of my editorial skills for the manuscript right now. thanks for your understanding.)

what i'm trying to say is this step in the editorial process is all about being careful. there may be a scene to add or rework here and there, but mostly my job is to make the fixes without mucking up the manuscript too much, since it's so close to being done. it's making me just a little bit afraid to touch the page, for fear of smudging what is already polished.

as soon as i get over that fear, i'll be back with another installment in the revision diaries!

The Revision Diaries (3)

this week's installment of the revision diaries (confessions of an author on a deadline!) reads a little like a Goofus and Gallant episode.

side note -- Goofus and Gallant, for those who did not grow up with Highlights magazine, are two boys who get placed in a situation with choices. Goofus always chooses the irresponsible path, while Gallant is more thoughtful.

side note to the side note -- as a kid, i always pronounced it Goofus and Gal-AHNT, because i'm fancy like that.

totally off-topic tangent -- when i was growing up, G&G were drawn with pencils in black and white. but i just checked out the website for Highlights magazine, and those boys are full-color computer graphics now! and guess what else? you can totally play a G&G "choose your own adventure" game online! i played it... twice.

okay, back on topic!

Friday, i was oh-so GalAHNT. i wrote and revised and wrote and revised again. new scenes. reworked scenes. continuity checks. word choices. i stayed on schedule and did not get distracted. very responsible author this day.

Saturday, i woke up a Goofus. i was exhausted from two full days of revisions and decided to put off writing until the afternoon. i ran errands, did chores, chilled out with Handsome. typical Saturday stuff. except this was not supposed to be a typical Saturday, because the Tic-Tock-Deadline-Clock waits for no weekend!
of course, my day got away from me until only the evening was left. at that point, i had to choose between revisions and poker night with friends.
i won the first game, lost the second. net gain: fifteen dollars.

Sunday, the Gallant on my shoulder came to the rescue. i wrote from practically sun up to well after sundown.
and... i finished.
i know! crazy! i so didn't deserve the satisfaction of being done after my Goofus Saturday, but there it is. i reached The End - again. and then i panicked. Goofus and Gallant were perched on each of my shoulders, having an argument:

Goofus: we're done! press send and let's go celebrate.
Gallant: maybe we should have a crit partner look at those scenes we're still concerned about first.
Goofus: naw! we're tired of revising. let's play some more poker.
Gallant: but we haven't fully addressed that one issue our editor mentioned. let's go back to page one and --
Goofus: you're boring!
Gallant: maybe i am, but if we work just a little harder, hopefully no one will say the BOOK is boring.
*poof* Goofus disappears in a ball of smoke.

actually, i compromised. Gallant isn't always right, and he is a little boring sometimes. so i sent the questionable scenes to a crit partner and took Monday and Tuesday to be a Goofus. i hit the gym, hung out with my gal pals and relaxed with Handsome.

Wednesday, i spent all night dealing with that issue Gallant had mentioned until i was satisfied.
Thursday, i thought long and hard about a possible big change i had proposed to my editor and ultimately decided against it (because, among other reasons, i realized my editor is much much smarter than i am.) i tossed out my outlined changes and polished up the newly revised manuscript instead. and THEN i pressed send. Goofus and i are going to have a blast this weekend.

so that's the end of the Revision Diaries for now.
i'm in uncharted waters on this path to publishing, but i hear there are often several rounds of revisions, then copy edits, then bound pages, ARCs, etc... so i expect this "author on a deadline" will have more confessions to come.

The Revision Diaries (2)

...week two in the chronicles and confessions of an author on a deadline!

so, as promised (to, um, myself), i truly began revising on Sunday. it was going great. i was trucking along, knocking down those skinny little post-its page by page for a couple days - until i hit a scene that stopped me in my tracks.

this scene needed a fix similar to a scene i'd already revised, so i attacked it in the same way - trimming back paragraphs here and rewriting the language there. but it wasn't working the same as it had worked for the other scene. and no amount of shaking my laptop could shimmy the words into their proper place.
so i got up and walked away for the first time since i'd really started revising.

but unlike with first drafts, or even revisions for my agent or crit partners, when i can walk away for as long as i need to... i knew i couldn't pause for too long. when writing/revising on a deadline, you can only let something sit and stew for so long before - in the immortal words of Tim Gunn - you have to "make it work."

so even though i wasn't sitting at the laptop, whatever i was doing, i forced myself to be thinking/scheming/mentally revising. i schemed while i played iSlash on my phone. i thought hard while watching the Real Housewives of who-knows-where. and i mentally revised while making dinner with Handsome.
(isn't it funny how much thinking/scheming/mentally revising all have in common with procrastinating? huh. wierd.)

but seriously, it was during one of these moments of obvious procrastination that the lightbulb went off. i knew how to fix the scene. i had to completely rewrite it - my first big full-scene makeover in this revision.

but AH! here was a new problem.
i am not one who can edit a single scene in multiple sessions, bouncing in and out of the chapter over the course of a few days. i have to do things in chunks. i needed a good block of time to write the scene AND make sure it was polished, so it wouldn't read like a first draft. but at this point, i was thick into my work week with other obligations looming, and i had not budgeted my week-day writing time for a marathon session - merely for a few sprints.

so with that deadline clock Tic-Toc-Taunting me, i set aside the manuscript for two whole days.

fortunately, i was able to use vacation days from work during this revision period, so i started again Thursday, with 4 full days of nothing but writing time stretching out before me.
and oh boy, did i rewrite that scene! it took the better part of my Thursday and kept me away from the gym and other chores i had hoped to slip in on my day off. but i got it done, and then i went back to sprinting - and smashing those post-its.
today i have a new scene to write and another scene that needs a big re-write, so i hope to be as productive as yesterday.

the only hiccup in my plans will be the carpet cleaners i scheduled to be here this afternoon.
but even if i only write 5 words while they are here, i'm sure i'll still get more done than if i had spent the entire day off cleaning the carpets myself.

i'll be back next week with another installment. (and probably sometime before that when some other random blog post inspiration strikes - i.e. when i need to walk away from the revisions again.)

The Revision Diaries (1)

OR: Confessions of an author on a deadline!

you know what you should do when you get your editorial letter? you should totally, ABSOLUTELY, commit to a new blog mini-series.
because that's responsible.
and a good use of your time.
ahem.

here's the deal. i thought it might be fun to share my editing crazies with all of you here on the blog. this is partly to make sure i AM, in fact, blogging during this time and not letting the space go dark. it also gives me an excuse to blog exclusively about revisions, which will be all i can think about for awhile. prepare for the descent into madness.

The Revision Diaries, Week 1:

my ed letter arrived on a friday, while i was at SCBWI. everyone told me you should let the letter sit and sink in for a few days, so i figured that was perfect timing. i'd just get started when i got home.

48 hours later, i was skipping the one free meal at the conference and an entire afternoon of sessions in order to sit in the lobby for a few hours, reading my manuscript and taking notes. (guess i'm not one for sitting and stewing!)

i spent the first few days back at home doing the same thing - reading and taking notes. all of this prep work is good, i told myself. i'll really be organized and ready when i actually start to edit.

eight pages of handwritten notes later, it was time to get back into the book and really start to work. BUT WAIT! the manuscript pages with my editor's notes had just arrived. naturally, i had to write out all new notes for myself based on those pages. really, you can't be too prepared.

the next friday, i talked to my editor on the phone to discuss revisions and bounce ideas back and forth. it was a great convo. i took lots of notes. i am so ready to start working, i thought.
(meanwhile, somewhere in the background, a deadline clock is ticking away. one week gone.)

finally, saturday arrived. my first full day to devote to editing. but i was TOTALLY UNPREPARED! i simply HAD to rush over to the office supply store to stock up on multi-colored Post-Its in all sizes. and as long as i was there, it made sense to pick up a 3-ring binder and new red pens and highlighters.
now i could REALLY get organized!

i spent a good half hour using a hole-puncher on my pretty manuscript pages. then i used my fancy new Post-Its to color-code my manuscript, page by page, with each color representing a different thread of things that need to be changed.

look how pretty! you can see how much work went into all this, right?



and do you know how many words i had actually edited in my manuscript at this point?
zero.

on the one hand, i do think it is CRITICAL to organize and prepare. at this point, i have my letter and my notes memorized, which should make the writing part much easier.

on the other hand, i confess, this first week was partly an exercise in procrastination. i find it very difficult to START revisions, because it means taking that polished manuscript - the one with every word spelled right inside of its perfectly-formatted one-inch margins - and tearing it apart. it's hard to take the thing you once called "done" and go back to calling it a "work in progress."

but it's time. i could not possibly be more organized. today, the REAL editing begins.