2 scenes down

Quick update- 2 scenes revised today. I am now at 54 out of 129 scenes.

Battle onward

4 scenes yesterday. Worked through a tough section there. Not that they were bad but they were full of darlings.  So tough to move those lovely lines to the cut section of the manuscript.

38 out of 129 completed.

On the flip side, I'm making friends with the snapshots tab of Scrivener.  Didn't get it; didn't trust it before but  it's wonderful.

Anyway, Sunday stretches before me today. I have some chores to do but should still have some pretty good writing opportunities.

Onward...

Update 2pm: 3scenes- 88 to go
Update 5pm: 6 scenes- 85 to go

Update 7:30pm: 11 scenes completed today (80 to go)

FOUR scenes left to reach the Novel Midlands.

Luckily my middle is in semi-good shape (I say now, hah!). It's the end that's going to be a bear!!

and the day stretched before me...

It's Saturday! Which means it's time to put some time into writing.

I never thought this was going to be such a tricky section to revise. It's definitely worth the effort- things are better. There was a lot of false tension and things that no longer fit with the truth of the novel.
It's hard though seeing how rough the writing is. I am not a pretty writer. Maybe some draft?

Updates to come!

Troubled scene underway

(6:07pm): Made some good edits during lunch today to my troubled scene.  It is a little less of an info dump now.
I've got a lot of work left to do on it but I'm going to try and get it to revised form tonight.
I'll update soon.

(7:45pm) Woot- one troubled scene done! It's still a bit rough. I'll probably take another pass at it tomorrow.

(8:06pm) I feel too tired to attempt another scene. Headed off for some reading...

Back to my regularly scheduled programming... 'death to all darlings'

4:40pm: As I was saying last night, I have 4 difficult scenes to update today- very difficult to face for me; I am attached to the current version.

I need to get the correct version straight in my head and just do it.  I guess today I'll take advantage of Scrivener's snapshot feature so I can let it go. Updates soon...

*** UPDATE 6:50
1st scene is pretty close
2nd scene-which I am halfway done with-is very rough.

But I am much happier with both. Gives some much needed backstory, while controlling for infodump.

*** UPDATE 9:03
Ended up calling it a TV night. Probably best to let the scene stew for awhile anyway.
Again, I'm resisting fixing things for some reason- even knowing the new version is currently all over the place.  Oh well, it was still progress today so that's something.

Facing down the changes

I'm in another difficult section- changes are needed but I'm attached to the current version.

But it's needed.

I tried to fix what was there (to keep it) but it doesn't work. The conflict is wrong and I can't avoid that anymore.

Tomorrow I'll try to do a real update on the 4 scenes.  The book will be better off for it.

Joy that grows out of the struggle

I've heard before this spoken of fake writers and posers- "they don't like to write, just to have written.  Unfortunately I've often thought this was true of me, and it's made me wonder about my future.

But in today's bit of procrastination I came across this...
"The writer who loves his work is not of a sordid nature. The check an editor sends him for his story is the smallest part of his reward. his has been the joy to create, to see a thought take form and amplify under the spell of his inspiration. A joy which is scarcely less is to know that his work has been appreciated by others."

It captures the joy of having written.  It is a struggle to write until inspiration hits and then it is so much more rewarding than anything else I could have spent time doing.

"Writing is it's own reward... To the writer the joy of the work is something infinitely higher, finer and more satisfying than its pecuniary value to the editor who buys it. Material success, of course, is a necessity...But this is also true: A writer even of modest talent will have material success in a direct ratio with the joy he finds in his work!-Because, brother of the pen, when [he] takes pleasure in an effort, then that effort attracts merit inevitably..."

Both quotes from- The Fiction Factory, John Milton Edwards

Fighting perfect

I was doing my normal procrastinating and came across this set of entries- where DWS gives us a chance to follow along as he writes a novel in small bursts of writing throughout the day.
http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/?p=8935

Very interesting. I can't give up the need to revise- I wonder if his books would sell better if he edited at least a little bit, and he would say it's my loss as I've been making this the 'PERFECT' book for 7 years now, with no income to show for it.  Book = Event  (definitely a myth I cling to and believe)

Now off to do some more redrafting  - currently at 29/127 scenes

***Update 10:30pm (after a movie break)

I procrastinated most of the day but around 4:30pm or so, I settled down to work. Turned off the internet. Weirdly enough the DWS entries actually encouraged me to dial back in on my revision (which is completely opposite of what DWS preaches). But he does preach 'trust the process' which is something I haven't been doing consistently.

The last 4 scenes or so that I revised didn't have any plot holes but they just didn't feel right. And I was trying to soldier right on past them. Anyway I went back and fixed them.

One thing revision is teaching me is not to be afraid to let the characters ask each other difficult questions and to not to be afraid of letting in some more consequences. After fixing these scenes that were dragging on my psyche, they've added a nice bit of layering to plot points that happen later in the story. All thanks to getting out of my characters' way(s) finally.