Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Turtling along



So, I'm still at it. Baking my Black Forest Torte one layer at a time. I should hit 20K tonight. Yay. But progress has been slow this week and I have violated the most sacred tenet in all of NaNodom.

I've been editing.

Yup. Several times now I have looked over my writing and started editing.

Even worse?

I've taken words out.

It goes against everything NaNo stands for and yet I've been unable to restrain myself. When I read and see words that don't belong--or even worse, entire scenes--it goes against everything I've trained myself to do as a writer to simply leave them for later. I must fix it now.

I'm not sure if this is growth on part as a writer or simply a dread of the inevitable rewrites that will fall my way. See, I've been down this road too many times now. I'm not a starry-eyed writer in love with her first novel. I have quite a few novels cluttering my hard drive now. (And one out a LuLu and one partial still in the hands of an agent) For me, the thrill isn't so much in the idea of finishing a novel. That I can do.

But I know how much work will come with finishing one. Writing is the easy part and editing is a bitch. Perhaps I am more cautious because of last year's NaNo project where I wrote with complete abandon. Dawg that was fun. But the edits...OY!

Will my rewrites be any easier for my more cautious approach? Check back in January.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Mary,

I edited the first day of NaNo. After that, I forced myself not to. But hey, everyone's different. The NaNo gods aren't going to strike you down. (least I think not)

If editing as you go along makes you feel more comfortable- that is what you should do.

Can't wait to hear more about your Victorian mystery. :)

Anna Claire said...

Heck, if the NaNo gods were going to strike us down for editing, I'd have been dead 10 times over already. A little bit of editing is good for you!

I'm also totally curious about your Victorian mystery--sounds delish.

Melanie Hooyenga said...

I'm doing the same thing - editing and cutting. Although I haven't cut entire scenes.

Someone told me the nano gods would cut off my thumbs if I kept editing, but since I only use them for the spacebar, I figure it's a risk I'm willing to take. ;)

Melanie Hooyenga said...

I don't know if you read this blog, but I thought you'd like this post: http://mysteriousmatters.typepad.com/mysterious_matters_myster/2008/11/the-cardinal-sins.html

Mary B said...

Well, I've adjudsted my timeline and my novel isn't really Victorian anymore. But it isn't Regency either. It's set in the upheaval of 1820. George IV has ascended to the throne, the Tories are taking back Parliment from the Whigs and post war depression and civil unrest have caused rioting and tension.

Of course none of that matters to my heroine when she falls under suspicion of murder. Just because she shot her previous fiancee they think she is a dangerous person or something!

Jen said...

I'm drooling over the idea of both black forest tart and a Regency mystery/romance. Ooooh, gives it to us! :D

And you know, sometimes, you just can't write the story unless you edit as you go. Sometimes the errors bother you so much that it's more stifling to ignore your inner editor and press forward than it is to back up, edit and fix the things you want/need to fix, and go forward.

And besides, there's still quite a bit of November left. No need to sweat, yeah? And even if you don't finish at the end, I think you'll still be ahead of the game, as far as editing goes. I shudder when I let myself think of all the ugly I'm going to have to hack out of my MS. :D

Anonymous said...

"Of course none of that matters to my heroine when she falls under suspicion of murder. Just because she shot her previous fiancee they think she is a dangerous person or something!"

This sounds so my cuppa tea...:)

Mary B said...

:starts taking names for people to bug for beta readers:

And the fiancee had it coming.

Rafael said...

Editing? Ha! Wish that where my problem. Starting to write again after I save my work for the night is my problem. Procrastination is my hobgoblin!