Rewrite-o-rama

Now that the LDStorymakers Writers Conference is over, I can focus a little more on actual writing. So I've gathered up my snacks, water bottles, pens, post its, and creative brain power to dive in and finally rewrite my 2009 NaNo train wreck. And yes, it is a total train wreck. I had reached my goal and was so sick of the book by the end that I cut off the last chapter with the mother of all info-dumps and ended with the sentence: And they all lived happily ever after. I kid you not. I laugh and cringe every time I read that last page.

"So, how's it going?" you might ask. (At least for this blog I'm pretending you would care enough to ask.)

The answer: It's going slowly, but good. It seems to take 2-2 1/2 hours per chapter so far. Here's a little glimpse into why it's so slow.



You may or may not be able to see that there is very little actual typed words left on these pages. I left maybe half a page, total, and the rest I tossed. And it is sooo much better than it was, too.

I think one of the most important things I've learned from Holly Lisle's "How To Revise Your Novel Workshop" (you can read past blog posts about it here and here and here and you can find out about the workshop itself here) is that anything is worth sacrificing to get the book you want. Rip out any character, any plot line, any chapter, paragraph, or line that doesn't get your book where you want it to be. And, that's really hard to do sometimes because you spent all that time writing it in the first place. But I'm willing to rip out, change, tweak, or completely rewrite (what I'm doing now) whatever I have to.

Now back to the rewrite-o-rama.