WIPs and Chains
Things were moving along nicely with the Celtic story and then a few things interrupted my progress. But these are all part of the writing process, too.
First, a few books I'd put on hold at the library became available - two of them are about Bernie Madoff, who ran a huge Ponzi scheme. I wanted to read these as research for my Ponzi story. When I read a book that's really helpful I make lots of notes, so I started doing that.
Then, another interruption. My critique partner emailed me back with her thoughts about the story I'd sent her to look at - the one I've titled Power Struggle. I truly value her feedback and suggestions on my writing, she has made so many of my stories better. And of course it would be nice if she said she loved the story and I shouldn't change a thing. But that's not what she said. She made a number of very good points, including something I'd been concerned about myself and a couple of things I hadn't thought about. So it was back to Power Struggle and my Celtic story got put on hold again.
Rewriting parts of a story can be hard or it can be easy. This one was a bit of both. Some parts I looked at didn't have to be changed much because they were in the hero's point of view and what was going on in his head didn't really change. What I needed to change was what he was showing on the outstide, so scenes from the heroine's point of view had to change. I had to try to get really deep inside his head and change how he acted. Then of course, a change in one place sometimes means things need to change throughout the rest of the story.
And then another interruption. I got the ARC of Lost and Found, my next Samhain release, to review for any final edits. Once again, all part of the process. I love this story, but after months writing it, revising it, editing and polishing it, then going through multiple edits with my editor and the Final Line Editor, I'm quite sick of it. I'm reading it, looking for any last little typos or missing punctuation we all might have missed, but I'm hardly even seeing it. I have caught a couple of things though, and tedious as this is, I do want the final product to be as perfect as it possibly can. Only about 7 weeks until release!
So most of this past week I was rewriting that story, doing some research, and doing final edits, and I didn't make much progress on my WIP. But that's okay, it's all part of the process. I sent my revised story back to my critique partner and maybe today I'll finish this ARC, do a bit more research done and get back to my WIP.
First, a few books I'd put on hold at the library became available - two of them are about Bernie Madoff, who ran a huge Ponzi scheme. I wanted to read these as research for my Ponzi story. When I read a book that's really helpful I make lots of notes, so I started doing that.
Then, another interruption. My critique partner emailed me back with her thoughts about the story I'd sent her to look at - the one I've titled Power Struggle. I truly value her feedback and suggestions on my writing, she has made so many of my stories better. And of course it would be nice if she said she loved the story and I shouldn't change a thing. But that's not what she said. She made a number of very good points, including something I'd been concerned about myself and a couple of things I hadn't thought about. So it was back to Power Struggle and my Celtic story got put on hold again.
Rewriting parts of a story can be hard or it can be easy. This one was a bit of both. Some parts I looked at didn't have to be changed much because they were in the hero's point of view and what was going on in his head didn't really change. What I needed to change was what he was showing on the outstide, so scenes from the heroine's point of view had to change. I had to try to get really deep inside his head and change how he acted. Then of course, a change in one place sometimes means things need to change throughout the rest of the story.
And then another interruption. I got the ARC of Lost and Found, my next Samhain release, to review for any final edits. Once again, all part of the process. I love this story, but after months writing it, revising it, editing and polishing it, then going through multiple edits with my editor and the Final Line Editor, I'm quite sick of it. I'm reading it, looking for any last little typos or missing punctuation we all might have missed, but I'm hardly even seeing it. I have caught a couple of things though, and tedious as this is, I do want the final product to be as perfect as it possibly can. Only about 7 weeks until release!
So most of this past week I was rewriting that story, doing some research, and doing final edits, and I didn't make much progress on my WIP. But that's okay, it's all part of the process. I sent my revised story back to my critique partner and maybe today I'll finish this ARC, do a bit more research done and get back to my WIP.