September 2021

This September, it has cooled off just enough so that we enjoy hiking again. I'm not fond of hiking in the full heat of the summer, and I don't mind hiking in the winter but will need a pair of snowshoes if I want to venture out to some of the best spots. It's nice to get out of the house and into some trees.


Aside from hiking, I avoided the writing group meetings that have gone from one or two in-person meetings to virtual again because of the rates of covid infection in the state. I live in Maine, so it is nowhere near as high as some other places but high enough so that no one wants to take the chance. Most of the group is vaccinated, but it still sucks to get sick. 


I finished Fahrenheit 451, and it was good but not like I remembered. It's funny how it has less impact when the made-up technology already exists and then some. What I liked best was the edition I read had some back story about Bradbury's writing process and how he went to the library and rented a typewriter to work on it. So he could type, and so he could get some time away from the house to focus. 


My main goal this month was to work on editing the novel I wrote for Honora. This is kind of a final edit following beta reader feedback. I thought about querying, but I think I'm just going to self-publish the thing. It's way easier to get the book in shape to publish than it is to query query query hoping to nab someone that is at least slightly interested and willing to take a chance on a new writer. 


This is my process on a post-beta reader edit. 


What have I done?

  • Cleaned up the document folder for a fresh edit
    • Put the original and all variations into a subfolder and out of sight 
  • Create a fresh copy of the manuscript to begin working from
    • I keep a copy of the feedback, so I know what I'm doing if I stop and come back to it months later. Years later. Decades?
  • Read through the beta reader's feedback comments. 
    • Some were really good. 
      • A large portion that's not needed - I need to rework and bring together the end.
      • What is my main character's goal? I need to make that clear to the reader
    • Some I will ignore (for now)
      • The character interacts with another version of their self (and how)
      • trimming some of the nastiness of some of the bad characters
        • I wrote it for Honora, and she liked it 
          • Maybe another kid would be bothered with it. The story is not for them
  •  Pro tip: Make sure the language in your word processor is set to the language you wrote in (Mine was set to Italian for some reason.) 
  • Then the editing begins
    • the long slog of reading 
    • deleting pieces
    • rewriting bits
    • It's slow - every sentence is up for removal. 
      • What moves the story and what stalls it. 
      • And accepting there is always going to be something that doesn't fit. Something missed. But it's better to have a less than perfect story that you can share than to leave it sitting in a folder adjusted and tweaked until the end of time.
        • What I'm saying is get your stuff out there (I'm saying that to myself too)
          • Edit as much as you can sanely, but get it out into the world so you can stop thinking about it and write something new

That's it for September.


Thanks for reading,

This is a picture from one of our hikes this month.




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