Editing is Work!

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~ Newt Gingrich

A new site -- Romancenovel.TV ... cool. For instance, here's an interview with Christina Dodd about her road to publication:



I'm editing one of my three novels with the intent that it will be marketed this year -- preferably by summer. It occurs to me as I write that word that June is only four and a half months away. Somehow, when I set that goal back at the end of January, "summer" seemed an eternity away.

I've only just finished chapter three AND some changes I've made will require a complete reconceptualization (is that even a word?) and rewrite for the end of the story. In fact, at this point, I don't know what the climax of the story is -- except I need to have my hero called away unexpectedly.

I deleted an entire chapter (chapter two... which was cute and sweet and absolutely nothing happened to move the story forward). And I'm getting so good feedback from my group. Because I don't want to just keep moving forward and then end up making changes that will affect mass portions of the story again, I have been going back and implementing much of the feedback I receive before continuing. At about 60,000 words, two weekly posts of 2,000 words or so, it will take my 3.75 months to have it all vetted. That's cutting it close.

I'm trying to write the synopsis (horrifically bad first draft) while I edit. Of course, it's going to be massive and will need editing, but that's okay. I'm better at paring something down after it's written (comes from trying to write for Womans World).

This novel is actually the second I wrote as an adult, and I plan on returning to the first when this one is edited. I also want to finish my mystery, but I need to figure out how to have the H/H solve the mystery without such a deep reliance on DNA testing -- since, in real life, the tests take longer to complete than they have time to wait. I'll figure it out.

In the meantime, I'm still writing short stories for submissions every month (I have three out on various editors desks awaiting responses -- and I HATE WAITING) and work on the craft.

I wonder... does any author ever think they're done learning and they finally have it all figured out?

++++++++++Edited to Add:+++++++++

Found this blog post, and had to share it. If you're an aspiring writer, give it a look!