I hereby announce that last night I started the 7th revision of The Unhappening of Genesis Lee! On Saturday, my critique group held a full novel review. We spent the last several weeks reading each other's entire novels, rather than just the chapters we normally do, and turned Saturday into a party/group critique. IT WAS SO AWESOME.
My husband thinks it's a little funny that I enjoy sitting for an hour and having four people tell me what's wrong with my book. But it's not hearing what's wrong with the book-- it's hearing what I can fix about my book! I got so excited about all the ways I can make my book better.
Of course, when I turned all my notes into two pages of actionable bullet points last night, I got a little overwhelmed. But I'll be taking it a bullet at a time, hopefully finishing this draft by the end of February. Then, off to beta readers in March!
So, my friends, how is your writing going? What are you working on right now? Any goals you've recently reached or will reach soon?
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22 comments:
Seventh revision! That's awesome. It's also cool that you were able to get some help from your CPs. I don't mind someone telling me what's wrong with my book when I know it will be that much better when it's fixed. Good luck with your list of revisions!
Btw, I love to beta read. :)
Ditto on the beta read!
I've lost count on how many revisions I've done, but soooo many problems have been fixed. I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and getting slightly giddy. Enjoy your light saber battle!
That's great you have such a good, fun group of partners. Critique party!
I've recently starting really working on my WIP again after slacking for a week or so and blaming school. I'm back to my resolution of at least one page a day, and this time I'M ACTUALLY GONNA DO IT haha.
7 revisions should be a totally lucky number! I have been a complete slacker lately. Instead of LTUE, I am going back to France this week!!! And all I can think about is warm bagettes and chocolat chaud:)
Things in writing are good. I have two projects that I have NO idea how to fix.
I'm desperate to start my next collab with a good friend, but she can't yet. SIgh.
Waiting on editors...
So, that's what's up.
Sounds like your plate is full :D
Enjoy the busyness!
Having a group of people you trust to help fix your book is an amazing thing. I'm so grateful for the people who do that for me.
Good luck with your revisions!!
I've been busy doing final prep work for my upcoming book's publication, but now that that's out of the way, I'm diving back into writing the sequel. (This was a two book series--it was supposed to be one book, but it got too long. Pfft.) I have SO much to write and I know what to do--I'm excited to be getting back into writing; it's been a couple of months of editing and revising and publishing stuff, so I haven't had that good writing time.
It's amazing how we writers enjoy subjecting ourselves to that kind of torture, but of course we don't see it as torture.
Good luck on everything you want to do.
Ahh, the good old bullet point. And I can totally understand why you enjoy hearing what your CPs have to say. I get so excited when I get notes back from a CP! The end goal is to have a better book. :)
I'm about a quarter of the way through the first draft of my WIP, and actually starting to get excited about how it's going! My daughter recently started nursery, so I now have five free mornings a week, and it's really helped. I don't have any critique partners, but I hope to acquire some as I get to the end of this draft. It's great that you've got such a supportive group of friends pointing you in the right direction.
Do you count query letter re-writes? If so...I'm in an endless loop! :)
Secondhand Shoes is now in the hands of the beta-readers and I'm battling fatigue as well.
I'm trying to plot and figure out the characters for a novel. It's not going as fast as I'd like, but progress is progress.
Good luck with your revision! :)
The critique party sounds fun! The light sabre battle sounds awesome, too, lol!
What a cool thing to do! My group's been together for ages, but we always meet every two weeks, and crit ten pages each. It would be really fun to switch things up from time to time! I might have to mention it to them!
And I loved how you put that "finding out how you can FIX your book". Such a great attitude!
My writing's going great! I'm just starting the first round of revisions on a WIP, which is always a bit intimidating for me--I like revisions, but since I'm such an underwriter, that first revision is usually a LOT of work!
Congrats on being SO CLOSE with your WIP!
Yay for getting so close to being done! I know what you mean--I get excited about hearing how to fix my novel from my CPs. Good luck!
You are getting closer and closer to the finish line. You must be really excited. The critique party sounds cool.
Wow, seventh revision! That's awesome! You're getting close!
I am doing another revision (lost count which one this is) on one book while another is out with critique partners. I'm feeling good. I let this particular book take a good rest, so it really feels like I'm reading someone else's book, which helps me to see which parts need chopping and smoothing.
I need to do a bullet point of what I need to fix. Then I would feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Have fun with the Life Saver battle. But protect yourself, it hurts when they smack you in the face with them.
Ha! I enjoy having my worked critiqued, too. Does that make us masochistic? I hope so. : )
Have fun with your 7th round of revisions! (I think I'm on my 11th.)
Oh, I'm on Twitter now, and I'm following you!
Jessie may be right : seven sounds like the lucky number to me. Beta readers are great at telling you how they would write your book. But only YOU can write it YOUR way. I wish you luck, Roland
Oh, I in my writing goals I am midway through my latest one. It feels good!
Working on my edits - so close to being done. Good luck with the revising! You can do it.
Sounds like you have a really amazing and supportive critique group! I've been unsuccessful in finding one here. The bullet points are a good idea, though! Seems like an easy way to keep need changes manageable. Right now I'm just in the lovely stages of editing!
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