Whoo, it's been all about revisions over here this week. For a variety of reasons, I've had to get up close and personal with six of my already written books this week. At various times, my eyes have felt like bloody meatballs that were going to fall right out of my head! As I've mentioned before, most of my writing work gets done at night after the day job and kids are attended to, so by the time I get to it, my eyes have already put in a long day. This week they were particularly challenged.
A lot of writers complain about revisions. I don't mind them. Usually whatever is being suggested makes the book stronger. I am always in favor of that! Since I don't do critique groups or critique partners, this feedback is invaluable and always welcome. My usual process when receiving a revision letter is to do nothing for the first few hours. I just think. And plan. And process. Usually what needs to be done is fairly clear by the time I dive in and it never takes me all that long to revise. At least it hasn't so far... I'm sure my day is coming.
Going back and re-reading already-written books is like spending time with old friends. I always enjoy that. Because a big part of my writing process involves re-reading what I've already written and because I'm a trained copy editor, my first drafts are usually pretty clean. So when I go back to re-read long after I've finished a book I'm usually reading for story more than grammar. Sometimes I've forgotten exactly what happens next, so plot twists and turns can be surprising to me (which I hope means they would be surprising to readers, too!)
So that's what I've been up to this week. Read. Read. Read. Revise. Revise. Revise. Not much writing got done—at least not enough to bother reporting it on the sidebar. But it was a week well spent.
What've you been up to? Any plans for Valentine's Day? My friends Emily Bryan and Dalton Diaz and I will be participating in a Valentine's author event at the Duxbury Public Library in Duxbury, MA tomorrow at 2 p.m. It's free and open to the public. Come on by and say hello!
