Phase Three: Intermission
Update 33 (Overall)
Wow. It’s hard to imagine that we just covered 33 weeks. The first 24 were devoted to finishing the rough draft of the manuscript and working out the kinks on these blog entries. The last 8 were the “revision” series… and for this one I’m just using the overall number of posts, 33.
The revision is not DONE… but neither is it still on going. I am happy with where the manuscript currently sits. I still need to see if I can find someone reliable to read the whole thing… or even just the last half. But I really don’t have anyone who I can get to read that.
(Now to be clear, I have a couple friends who do say that want to read the whole thing, but past experience has told me that they’ll stop part way thru and never get back to me. And while I have family who would read the whole thing, they won’t give me the same type of feedback).
The Plan
Part of me thinks this is a bad plan… but it might be the only one I have. I’ve already said it in previous updates, but maybe this is your first post from me? Sometime within the next 7-8 weeks I will be getting a thorough cut and slash on the first 80k of my novel.
The moment I get that back I plan on sitting down and “fixing” the whole first half of the novel. I will make it sing. Then, based off all of that work I will surge into the back half and try to make the writing as tight. Before that happens, I plan on being deep in my Agent hunt.
The hope is that the well-polished beginning of the manuscript is enough to pull in the agent. Then sell the book and get an editor who will kick my ass on the last half of the manuscript to get it as good.
It’s not the best plan in the world, but we work with what we’ve got.
Last Week:
You probably already guessed that I did no revision and didn’t even touch the manuscript at all. True. What I did do is work on an essay that is targeted for a literary magazine. The rough draft was really rough.
This is a personal essay, and despite me writing these blogs all the time, many of which do get a little personal, I have never written a formal personal essay. I’m used to writing term papers in strict MLA that will not accept a first-person narrative.
The Essay
This was a departure for me. By the time this blog posts on Monday morning I will have completed the second draft of the essay. In this case though I do have a mentor/coach/editor who is egging me on and red lining the hell out of my work. It is a very different experience writing with someone cheering you on.
Don’t get me wrong, I have mother and best friends who are also encouraging. But that’s family, you kind of have to take that with a grain of salt. Having someone who is a professional, an educator, enjoy your work and then tell you how to fix it. That is a whole other level.
I’m also talking about deep, personal things. Exposing thoughts and happenings I’ve kept to myself. The first draft only lightly touched on those details, but my coach wants me to fully let it out. All the ugly.
This Week:
Besides getting draft 2 of the essay out, I assume I’ll get feedback during the week and have to do a draft 3. I am also putting together my portfolio for my final. Which means I have to rewrite my book synopsis, my back cover copy, clean up my resume, and also add in the ending of my novel to my outline.
I left the ending of my novel very open and loose in the original version of my outline. Now that I have my whole revolving povs and over lapping time lines at the end of the book, I want to put that clearly in the outline.
By the end of the week or the beginning of the next I have to write my final essay for the class, a reflection on the 30 weeks (plus holiday and week off between terms, so 33) of my three levels of thesis classes. It’s been a good run.
Alright signing off for this week… not much going on with the winter and all.
