Patricia Stoltey

Author

Monday, Monday: A Writing Day

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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

  4. 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? 😉

  7. 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!

  10. 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. 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. 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!

  16. That’s impressive! I wish I had that kind of time. Unfortunately, I have a day job 🙁

    I do get a lot done, just not that much in one month. 😀

  17. 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!