Getting Radical

Yesterday afternoon, I finished the major rewriting, then went back and re-read up to the point where things take off. I was relaxing and finishing my tea after that when the doorbell rang, and I found a package on the doorstep -- another round of revisions on the steampunk novel. I kind of wanted to scream or cry because it seems like I can never get any momentum going on this book.

But I'm going to try something really radical. Since I'm dealing with two very different processes -- writing/creating and fine-tuning -- I'm going to see if I can manage to keep both going, doing a little of each every day. Maybe do some editing while I'm feeling more logical and then writing later. Or if I run out of ideas and get stuck writing, I can go do some editing. I might even try editing during the day and doing writing marathons at night on the nights when I'm free. That used to be my Friday-night routine in the day-job days. I'll probably have to work a bit more every day to make progress on both projects, but that's probably good for me anyway. For at least a few weeks, until the edits are done, I may have to cut back on "play" time. And I still have copyedits to get to. In order to accomplish everything I need to do this year, I'm going to have to be a little more dedicated and focused.

But it beats a real job!

Since most of the editor's issues seem to involve her not understanding the rules of magic in my world, I think today I'm going to work it all out in answer to each of her questions. I know this stuff, but I think it may help to put it in writing before I find a way to weave the info into the story. And then I need to work out some things for the next scene I need to write in the other book. So today's going to be a thinky kind of day. Meanwhile, I need to do lesson plans for choir.

In the meantime, I may have found my favorite version of Les Miserables -- the Cookie Monster version. I wish these songs were full-length because I'd love to be able to sing the "Not having cookies makes me sad" version of "I Dreamed a Dream" while I'm baking. If I could write decent lyrics, I'd get right on that.