Wednesday, June 1, 2016

the editing journey // re-writing


Do you ever feel like life suddenly races by you, grabs you by your coattails, and drags you along before you have the chance to catch your breath?

Guys, I went away for the weekend with the Jr. High group from my church, and by the time I got home on Sunday I realized that I'd spent at least three days having completely forgotten that I was working on a novel. Completely. Forgotten. This has never ever in the history of time ever occurred in my life. (It was a moment of true crisis.)

Anyhoo, I'm juggling a lot of things right now, but I have still been making headway on my re-writing. I started from scratch, with a blank word document and a blinking cursor after the words "Chapter 1," and to be honest, it was a little bit sickening. But I'd come so far! But I had a whole novel already written! ...but here I was again, page one. Word count: 2. Gahhhh.

Before I make you too depressed, do not despair! I didn't totally ditch my first draft! (in fact, the farther along I get, the more I realize that quite a lot of it is still usable!) I decided that the least complicated way to handle my edits would be to start from scratch, and then copy and paste all of the relevant scenes from draft 1 into my draft 2 manuscript as they appeared in the story. So, yes, I started with an empty page (sob!) but after only a day or two, I was soaring around the 15k mark. 

Currently, my word count is around 23k. I haven't accomplished much since last week (reason: LIFE) but I'm hoping to close this blog post and then bop over into Skylar's world to get a few more pages down. I'm about to tackle a new scene, and it's kind of a hefty one... so I've been procrastinating just a wee bit. (but no more! I am going to write tonight, even if it's only 300 words!)

WHEW. LIFE. REWRITING. SEND HELP. (and possibly chocolate.) Is anyone else re-writing out there? Or has re-written before? Or is thinking about doing it? Or deciding NEVER TO RE-WRITE EVER BECAUSE IT'S SO MUCH WORK??? Do tell. Also, enjoy this picture of me as I sit in front of my computer:


“I actually enjoy chopping up the first draft of my novel into pieces. It doesn’t make me anxious at all.” | 18 Things All Writers Wish They Could Say #writing #authors #lol:

xx,
Olivia

16 comments:

  1. Do you ever feel like life suddenly races by you, grabs you by your coattails, and drags you along before you have the chance to catch your breath? Yes, that's the perfect description of my life right now.

    I've never written a novel, so I have no idea what you're going through. But, I have a lot of admiration for authors, and I hope it goes well for you! (And you're 23K through already?! How many words are you hoping the finished product to be?) In short: go you! :)

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    1. Ahhhh, Jessica, you too?? I'm sorry/excited for you, because the craziness can be totally overwhelming, but also very very invigorating! Which is it for you?

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    2. Both, actually. :) Some days it's exciting, but other times I feel rather swallowed up. It's encouraging to know I'm not alone though. Thanks. :)

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  2. *sends you tons of chocolate to get you through the process*

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  3. Balancing writing and life can be so hard sometimes. I want to do a good job on both, so I keep telling myself that some days it's okay to write just a little bit. I used to think that writing was all about finding long, uninterrupted stretches of time to write in, but the older I get, the more I realize my writing time is mostly composed of half-hours where I get a little bit done at a time. It all adds up in the end.
    Happy rewriting!

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    1. Alex, this is SO encouraging to read. THANK YOU for speaking some much-needed reality into my overwhelmed soul and tired fingers! It all adds up in the end.

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  4. Olivia....I don't even know what to say, because you've just said it all. Basically, I FEEL YOU. I really, really do. Because this is just exactly what I'm going through at the moment, with the book I've been writing/rewriting/plotting/moaning over for two years. Recently I made the decision to rewrite it, and now I think I might be crazy. :-P IT'S JUST SO HARD. Rewriting is harder than writing because you have to wade through everything you've written and pick out the good stuff, then add to it, make it better, and ultimately decide how you want it....AAHHHHHH. (I'm ranting now, sorry!) ANYWAYS, I just wanted to tell you, I'm right there with you. I know. I hope you have success! And I hope we can both obtain enough chocolate to get us through this. ;-)

    ~Emma

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    1. EMMA, I am so happy that you GET IT!!! (sorry that it's hitting you, though. ugh. why are we so in love with something that's so DIFFICULT??) I remember reading about your writing journey and it's kind of exciting to me that we've hit the same point together. And your description of re-writing is spot-on... let's share the chocolate (and the motivation) and keep going! We've got this!!

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  5. THAT PICTURE IS SO ACCURATE IM CRYING.
    also- you got this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's okay to take a break to deal with life. it's gotta happen sometime ;)

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    1. Oliiiiiviaaaa

      I was quite thrilled to find that picture ;) I must say. And thanks for the encouragement!! You rock.

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  6. OMG YAAAAS I CAN RELATE TO THIS ON SO MANY LEVELS. *despairing emoji face* *or i guess emoji is a face so i don't even need to say emoji face* *whut is life* HELLO THERE I'M SENDING HELP AND CHOCOLATE AND WAFFLES, HOWS THAT?? ;) omg I know that feeling of the sickening blinking line O_O UGHHH. but it sounds like you're making such fabulous progress!!

    I'm probably going to have to rewrite a TON of the book I just finished :P BUT AH WELL. I've been working on it for a long time, so some of it is meh some of it is accidentally brilliant and some of it is YAAAAS and some of it is terrible. XD *bangs head on desk*

    HAHAHAA THAT MEME. SO ACCURATE. <3

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    1. Congrats on finishing your book!!!! I'm so so proud of you Abbie!!! ♡♡♡ and don't even think about rewriting yet, just enjoy the feeling of having finished! Look at you being all accomplished. ;)

      Sending emoji faces back!! (This is now a thing.)

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  7. WRITING IS SO MUCH WORK. RE-WRITING IS EVEN MORE WORK BECAUSE OMG THE PRESSURE. No really! I think re-writing and editing is harder because your brain is like "we muuuust get this right now" whereas in first drafts there's a lot more freedom to just blather on and fix it up later. XD At least that's my deranged methods. ahem. SO YEAH. I totally hear ya here! (And I have actually taken time off and gone back to a manuscript and remembered nothing. Ugh.)
    Also I just finished rewriting and omg it's sooooo good to be done! SO I SHALL BE CHEERING YOU ON FROM THE SIDELINES. Cake! Chocolate! You've got this!!

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    1. "We must get this right now" is definitely my mentality!! Plus the feeling of "haven't I done this already?" As I stare glumly at my screen... haha :p thanks for the cake and chocolate!!! They are LIFEGIVING.

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  8. Rewriting is just...YIKES. I've been going through it too, so all I'm going to do is bring blankets and chocolate and make a blanket fort and sit with you virtually right now. xD We've got this.

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