This weekend, after long months of work, I’ve finally completed the rewrite of the second half of my novel. For my process, this includes 1) the handwritten copy, 2) typing the rough draft in and 3) doing a first major editing pass. I’m ready to run the material through critique group, and it’s a wonderful feeling to be so close to them finally reading the end of the novel! Most of the group has read nearly a hundred pages of the original before I started back through again, and they deserve to find out how things finish up.
That’s a lot of why the blog has been silent for quite a while here–basically everything extracurricular has fallen to the wayside. I’ve hardly read more than a chapter in the next book on my reading list. I’ve gotten disciplined about my blog reading, and often let it pile up for days until I hit a writing milestone first.
Additionally, my job moved to a new location which actually has a nice break room with tons of bright, tall windows. Previously, my only retreat on a lunch was, uh, the other part of my desk, and that just didn’t work for me to write. Now I’ve been consistently stepping away to make space for the writing in the middle of the day.
It’s all part of the grand master plan to be ready for the Willamette Writer’s Conference coming in August. One of the big pieces of the conference that I haven’t taken advantage of before was pitching with agents. This year, I should have the manuscript ready to go. It’s time to start selling!
I’m going to try to blog more regularly, talking about some of what I’ve learned through this most recent bout of editing. Should be fun!