Back around Christmas, I finished entering all the hand-written edits I made during the first readthrough of my novel. I celebrated having hit this milestone, but it was also somewhat sobering. To be honest, I'd gotten into the habit of lazily looking at the hard copy, making mostly-simple text or wording changes, and looking for the next one. It was actually a handy way to be writing during the holidays, when there was much business and chaos on all fronts--writing didn't have to add much stress of its own.
But now, well... now I can't be lazy anymore. There are still a ton of things left to do with the novel (some that I recently noticed, some that are part of a huge to-do list that I made back when I wrote the first draft) not to mention all the stories I plan to write this year. And none of them are as easy as making changes that were mostly already done, just not in the document. In some ways that's frightening, as I still don't have a huge amount of time to myself without depriving myself of sleep. In other ways though, it's rekindling my enthusiasm for my writing. Being more active in my creating, even if it is the often-less-active revising stage, is just more fun (just like writing a story actively versus passively is more engaging for the reader. Who knew?) I've been spending more time writing, which means less time for other things (blogging for instance. Or sorting through the digital mountain of photos I took on Christmas.) It's been great, and (mostly) a lot of fun, although I've been feeling more pressed for time than I did before Christmas. But then, when something takes, something else has to give.
Have you ever fallen into lazy writing ruts? Do they help you recharge your batteries or pull you away from the more important parts of the craft?
2 comments:
Revising must be one of the hardest things to do as a writer. No, wait: the hardest. Actually, I've nearly abandoned revising entirely. Not sure how that will affect me in the long run quite yet...
In fact, revising is one of the main things that throws me in to ruts. Nonetheless, ruts are pretty normal. I find my writing is like a wave, with crests and troughs. It all evens out, but there are times when I write like a maniac, and others where I am Total Utter Slobman.
You definitely needs those lazy times, though, to recharge - in my opinion, anyway!
I was a pretty lazy reviser until recently. I hated the idea of going through a manuscript more than once to make changes. Too time consuming. And that's why all my books sucked. ;)
I've been a lot better in the last several months, go me! Lots of patience to get good revising. Keep at it!
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