I’m hard at work with my revisions to my NaNoWriMo novel, Lillie Among Thorns. After I finished my rough draft, I printed it all out (whew, lots of paper!) and went through with my best friend, the red pen. After I finished, I definitely had something missing. It took a few weeks of doing other things—general research, reading (a lot of reading), journaling—before I realized what it was that was missing. So, I was able to dive back in, rewrite, re-research and here I am! I’m plugging away – I’m not even halfway though and have set a tight personal deadline, but I’m hopeful. On a side note, thank you...
Finally, a Kindle!
I’ve kept my eye on the raging debate over the pros and cons of e-readers. I follow many different blogs in the writing community and publishing industry. (Michael Hyatt, president and CEO of Thomas Nelson, has some excellent reviews and thoughts on e-readers.) Literary agent Chip McGregor, one of the most respected voices in the publishing industry, presented a talk about the future of publishing at the Summer Conference for the Oregon Christian Writers and he insisted e-readers will soon be as much a part of our lives as a cell phone. There is talk of instituting e-readers for schools to eliminate the heavy books (and expensive books) that children...
Looking back, looking ahead
I don’t know about you, but I was grateful to say good-bye to 2010. It was certainly a roller coaster of ups and downs. I treasure every moment and every trial, knowing it is all part of God’s master plan. But a fresh start certainly sounds good right now. I pulled out my notebook of 2010 Goals and looked over them: 1. Edit and polish my 2009 NaNoWriMo manuscript, Beautiful Pretense (check!) 2. Submit Beautiful Pretense to at least one agent and one publisher (check, check) 3. Write and edit miscellaneous newsletters for nonprofit organizations (check) 4. Blog three times a week (mostly…check) 5. Complete another NaNoWriMo novel (check!) 6....
Typing “the end”
Finishing a rough draft on an 80,000-word or 90,000-word manuscript is a thrilling moment. Despite my misleading title of this blog post, I don’t type “the end” right away. Because finishing the rough draft is only the beginning! Yesterday I finished my rough draft to the novel I began on November 1st. I finished with under 79,000 words in 44 days. This sort of sprint works well for me personally, though I know it wouldn’t for many other writers. Now, I’m in for the marathon of revising, editing and rewriting. This was a fascinating story in how it transformed from one thing to another. My character truly took on a...