Saturday, February 4, 2012

Editing goes on, and on, and on....

My friend Kim says that everyone needs a creative outlet, that we can become physically ill if we don't engage the creative part of our brain on a regular basis. Kim quilts. I write. Lately, I've been feeling the need to dust off that creative part of my brain -- because, lord knows, I don't do anything creative at work -- and do something creative for awhile.

But the editing of Counting Crows never seems to end.  Shoot, I don't even have a real title yet, and I haven't gotten it down to 110K words (or less).  I'm close, but not there yet.  And of course, I still need an agent, all of which means working on this novel for awhile longer.

Like a lot of new writers who get caught up in editing their first chapter, over and over again, I'm in the spot (with my whole novel) where if I just go over it one more time, then it'll be perfect.  Right.  At a certain point, I have to stop, and work on something else, and I'm ready, really ready to lay Maggie and JD, and all the residents of Jacob's Creek, to rest, and invent some other world, other people with different problems.

So, I have a plan (one in a long line of plans) to be done with the editing and synopsis writing, with all the details that makes writing feel like work -- at least until an agent/publisher gives me direction on what they want edited -- by the end of this month (February 2012). 

With that said, February is going to be a busy month. I'm finishing this baby whether it kills me or not.

2 comments:

  1. I think your writing has changed from being your creative outlet, to another job. One that you can see the end of, but not quite there yet. Essentially, you have been holding down two jobs for years. I think this blog will help. Something you can be creative with, but it doesn't have to be perfect. Plus it is so good to hear your voice ! andrea

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is this Andrea O? Either way, thank you for the lovely comment. And you're right, it is a second job, one which is taking as many or more hours a week than my real job. Good thing I'm good at my real job. Don't have to think as much that way. :-)

    ReplyDelete