Drawing from the Well
Scenes Arranged: 8
Total Scenes: 174
I made some progress yesterday finally. I would have liked to make more, but I’m taking the small victory while I can. I found ways to incorporate a couple of the points from my list more cleanly into existing chapters because I realized they didn’t need whole chapters on their own (I have to remember to stick with saying the same number of things in the fewest words possible). But, from the title of this blog, you probably already know that something is up. I’ll explain in Well Chat.
Filling the Well
That Hideous Strength: 54%
Elegy: Page 15 of 89
Jessica Jones: S2E12 of 13
No progress here. I don’t like it, but yesterday was an exciting day so I’ll let it go.
Polishing the Well
My son and I finally sat down and watched Ant-Man and the Wasp last night. It was good and fun and helped explain some of the things I’ve read and seen online lately about Endgame. Now we just need to see Captain Marvel and rewatch Infinity War and we’re primed for the main event this summer. Most excited.
Well Chat
From Scening to Editing
Out of the blue and by complete surprise, I got my last edit back last night! I’m so excited! My editor’s initial notes in her e-mail were overwhelmingly positive. From reviewing the first few chapters, there are far fewer notes and they tend to take the form of moving words and sentences for greater effect and correcting punctuation. There are a few content notes so I’ll have to consider those. The big upside is that the days of every page awash in red are behind me.
The big thing for me here is validation. When I sent the 5th draft previously, I had felt it was the best I could do, but in a defeatist way. I knew there were foundational problems that I could no longer see. I was ready to accept every criticism. When I sent the 6th draft to her, I was certain it was the best draft I had ever composed and possibly could. I had cut and sanded to a smooth finish. With my editor’s help, I’m ready to plate this bad boy in chrome.
So for the next several days, I intend to dive into my editor’s notes and start making changes. As successful as I was because of her notes before, I expect to accept most of her suggestions. It should not take nearly as long to adjust my book this time because the changes are so miniscule in comparison to the seismic shifts of Draft 6. So, for now, the Drawing from the Well section is going to change to show the number of chapters edited. I’m hoping that number will fly by.
After that, things are going to change again. I’ll still be trying to write, but my main focus will be on finding an agent (#agenting). I have a list of potential agents and will expand that out. I have to get back into the tracking website I used (I can’t even remember the name now it’s been so long — what, almost two years right?). I have to beef up my tracking spreadsheet. I have to prepare mentally for sending out a letter a day for as long as I can. I don’t want to try to do more than that because 1) I don’t want to burn out and 2) I don’t want to neglect writing the next book. If I can balance the two activities, I can get a lot done.
So here goes nothing, everyone. Wish me luck!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG