March 7, 2011

I participated in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November three times, and twice I was able to meet the goal of writing 50,000 new words during the month. Hurrah!

Like many NaNoWriMo writers, though, I slumped after that. Twice, my rough draft of the novel I wrote languished on a disk, never to be seen again.

Like others, I could have used the push of an editing month or two to keep going. Until recently, I had no idea that such a program already existed.

NaNoEdMo

This month I’m participating in National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo) to work on a mystery that hasn’t been going anywhere for six months. I got a good jumpstart in January and February with Jordan Rosenfeld’s eight-week class on Fiction Magic that just finished. I wanted to keep going, applying the new lessons I’d learned in her class to the novel.

Then I heard about NaNoEdMo that runs during the month of March. The challenge this month is to log in 50 hours of editing on a single novel. The rules say: Editing is defined as changing previously written material. Editing does not include writing a completely new novel. It does not include planning or researching. It does include anything from correcting the grammar and spelling to substantial rewriting of the novel.

My Own List

I wanted to make sure I actually spent 50 hours of time editing the novel–not just 50 hours at my desk doing writing tasks. So I made two lists of tasks: one list counts toward NaNoEdMo, and one set of tasks doesn’t (even if it includes writing).

Does not count:

• Writing this blog
• Answering email
• Posting and responding to comments
• Reading others’ blogs
• Reading writing articles online or in magazines or books
• Journaling
• Writing speeches and getting ready for conference talks
• Marketing of published books (including Facebook and Twitter posts)

Does count:

• Actual revision of the novel (changing words, onscreen or on paper)
• Experimenting with changing order of scenes
• Applying my “Fiction Magic” new skills to the novel

I set up an Excel spreadsheet (which I definitely do NOT excel at) so that I could keep track of the writing time. I keep daily track–using a kitchen timer so I don’t over-estimate my time–of both the NaNoEdMo legitimate hours logged and all the other writing hours logged.

Shocked!

The first week I was stunned actually. I was being so very disciplined, getting to work in my office before 8:00 a.m. and sticking to my schedule. Many days I logged in seven or eight hours of writing and writing-related work accomplished. I’d be so pleased–until I did the breakdown so I could log in my hours on the NaNoEdMo website.

Nearly every day, even when I’d faithfully been in my office working all day, I could only log in 90 minutes of novel editing. Often it was less than an hour!

I’m so glad I did the spreadsheet breakdown, or I wouldn’t have believed it. Needless to say, I’m already behind on making it to the 50 hours of novel revision by March 31. But I’m still very hopeful. Armed with this knowledge, I plan to make changes.

Novel Writing First!

This week, before anything else, I’m going to do my three hours of novel editing. (In case you’re wondering, this blog is being written on Sunday night and set up to post by itself Monday morning. When this posts, I will be editing my novel!) For years I’ve been telling you to “do your writing first,” before cleaning or grocery shopping or TV watching.

I’m going to further suggest (strongly) that when you put your writing first, you also do the type of writing you love the most first. If you aspire to be a published picture book writer, do that writing first. If you want to write self-help books for teens, work on that first. Don’t get caught up in all the other writing tasks until you’ve given your best hours to your first love.

I’m not going to either!

September 24, 2008

I’m down to revising the final chapter of a novel, and what a different feeling than when I started this last revision. I’d had it critiqued by several people, and the number of suggestions looked daunting. I wasn’t sure I could make the changes. For two days, I sat and stared at the screen, ate a lot of chocolate, scrolled through the chapters trying to decide where to start–and then stopped for the day.

Then I remembered to take things one step at a time, like I always tell students and workshop participants. Little by little, it isn’t so scary. And don’t try to re-invent the wheel. Get help! For example, a whole single-spaced page of suggestions was for the opening chapter (which had been revised four times already). For help I turned to a terrific book on my shelf, Hooked: write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go by Les Edgerton. I also reviewed a couple chapters from Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King. As I tackled each suggestion, one at a time, I read articles or chapters on a particular problem or issue. The list suddenly became do-able. Bit by bit, suggestion by suggestion, change by change, I’ve watched the novel grow stronger and more believable.

What do you do when you’re stuck in a revision? What helps get you moving again? I’d love to try your ideas for myself!