Patricia Stoltey

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Monday, Monday: A Writing Day

August 8, 2011 By: Patricia

Well, technically it will be a revising day. Dear hubby is off to Estes Park to play bridge today, so he’ll be gone about eight hours. And since he’ll have the car, I can’t sneak off to run umpteen dozen errands or procrastinate in other out-of-the- house ways.

The only chore I have to do is the laundry which mostly happens by itself with only a little loading, unloading and folding to do during work breaks. And since tonight I’ll be attending a class at the Northern Colorado Writers Studio on “Save, Share & Create with Photos on Shutterfly,” it will be big salad night in the Stoltey household. Minimal preparation and very little cleanup makes more time at the computer.

I’m still working on revisions for Dead Wrong, the novel I’ll be pitching at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Colorado Gold Conference next month. I’m making more changes to the plot than originally planned, so I’ve divided the revision project into three parts.

First, I’m going through all of my critique group’s comments and making changes where the suggestions work with my new plot. During this phase, I’m also rewriting the scenes that no longer work.

Second, I’ll go back to the beginning and read through the chapters for plot errors and obvious problems with pacing. During this stage, I’ll do my chapter outline as a timeline and sequence check. That chapter outline is useful later when writing the synopsis.

Third, I’ll print out the manuscript and begin my own step-by-step self-editing process. At least twice during this phase I’ll read the manuscript out loud.

I have thirty days to finish the job since I want the manuscript ready to submit when I attend the conference.

So I’m off to work, heigh-ho, heigh-ho. See you tomorrow.

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Comments

  1. Shannon Lawrence says

    August 10, 2011 at 1:04 am

    Good luck with your revisions and your pitch!

  2. irishoma says

    August 8, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    Love the title DEAD WRONG.
    Donna V.

  3. Marlena Cassidy says

    August 8, 2011 at 2:19 pm

    Wow, that sounds lot quite a bit of work you have on your plate! Best of luck, Patricia!

  4. Dorte H says

    August 8, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    Good luck with your revisions. I have also realized that I have to split revisions up in a number of processes so I don´t have to focus on everything in one go.

    And sure, laundry takes care of itself, but why didn´t anyone tell me how much work a *launch* involves? πŸ˜‰

  5. Patricia Stoltey says

    August 8, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Oops! Caught me!

  6. GigglesandGuns says

    August 8, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    Stop reading this and get to work :o)
    Enjoy your class

  7. Jan Morrison says

    August 8, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    Patricia! You just gave me a good idea. I need a burr under my saddle these days. I’m going to finish my revision in thirty days too and then I’m going to pitch it at the Pitch the Publisher for Word on the Street (a street book festival here in Halifax). I pitched last year and won for best pitch but my pitch was for my mystery and no one there looked at genre fiction – this year I’ll pitch my so-called-literary-novel! Best of all, I’ll have a defined deadline. Thank you thank you thank you. I’m more than half-way through putting in the changes from the person who edited for me – then I have some bigger things to do with it. Backwards I know – but I can’t seem to help it!
    Have fun revising – I’ll send you good revising vibes and you can do the same for me!

  8. The Yard Bard says

    August 8, 2011 at 10:19 am

    Oh, good luck! Lately, the only one who gets any writing done around here is the three-year-old. He hogs the computer, see…

  9. Alex J. Cavanaugh says

    August 8, 2011 at 9:25 am

    Hope you get a lot done today!

  10. Patricia Stoltey says

    August 8, 2011 at 8:59 am

    Good morning! Taking a quick moment to check in on the blog and e-mails, load the washer, and get more coffee. Like Diane, my only other distraction is the kitty cat, who has already been in twice demanding I come downstairs and play. Kittens can make one feel almost as guilty as little kids can.

  11. L. Diane Wolfe says

    August 8, 2011 at 8:26 am

    That’s why I treasure my Mondays and Fridays – my husband is at work and I’m home all by myself. Only distraction is a cat wanting attention. And with two, they play tag-team.

  12. Kimberly Savage says

    August 8, 2011 at 8:17 am

    You make revisions sound so easy! Or, at least, organized. I’m starting a new project, so I’m in “create mode,” but my revisions are always there for me in my current manuscript. Good luck and happy writing today!

  13. welcome to my world of poetry says

    August 8, 2011 at 8:07 am

    Happy writing Patricia, I too am busy these days compiling a new poetry book. much has to be re-typed but I’ll get there eventually,

    Have a good day.
    Yvonne,

  14. Jemi Fraser says

    August 8, 2011 at 7:16 am

    Sounds like a very full day! Good luck with getting it all done! πŸ™‚

  15. Talli Roland says

    August 8, 2011 at 6:56 am

    Happy writing! Sounds like you’ve got a great plan there.

  16. Giles Hash says

    August 8, 2011 at 6:40 am

    That’s impressive! I wish I had that kind of time. Unfortunately, I have a day job πŸ™

    I do get a lot done, just not that much in one month. πŸ˜€

  17. Margot Kinberg says

    August 8, 2011 at 6:03 am

    Pat – Good for you to really focus on your novel. I know what you mean, too, about that car thing. It is awfully easy, isn’t it, to procrastinate by doing “just one or two errands….” I’ve done that myself. Hope you’ve a very productive day!

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. My most recent release, In Defense of Delia (Five Star/Cengage, November 2022), is available in hardcover and will soon be available in ebook and trade paperback. Read More…

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