Editing and Other Fun Stuff

Today's is going to be a mishmash post. I have several things I'd like to talk about, and I'm too lazy to devote a separate post to each. So here goes:

I'm up to my ass in alligators, and the water is rising. I brought it on myself, so I'm not complaining. (Not really.) It's not just writing, but I'll try to stick to the writing portion of it.

I'm currently editing Blink (my third novel). It's what I lovingly refer to as a second edit - the first being my reinking stage where I print out the whole damn thing and stab it to death with a red pen. At this point, I'm fixing some major errors. Rewriting whole sections of text, expanding scenes, deleting others. My manuscript is growing right now, and I figure I'll have about 90K words by the time I get done. But enough about that. Last night I spent an hour going over chapter 21, only to discover as I was trying to fall asleep, that I hadn't done a damn thing. I knew going into the chapter, that one scene was key to the whole manuscript and it needed a complete rewrite. Did I do that? Noooo. All I did was fiddle with a few words. So, I took it out of the 'Done' pile this morning. I'll be pulling it apart today.

Additionally, I think I finally figured out what was bugging me about the beginning of Blink. Too much telling, not enough showing. I like a nice balance of the two, so I'm going to have to re-re-edit that whole thing.

I'm reworking Caldera, with the help of a crit partner. (Who, thank goodness, isn't finding any major flaws.) I have some work to do, but not too much. Dialogue tags and adverbs. How I love my lovely adverbs. The bonus side of critting is I get to read her stuff, too - which serves two purposes. As I'm finding ways to help her improve her stuff, I'm finding ways to improve my own. And I get to read someone else's work before the rest of the populous. After it gets published, I can point to her book and say "Nyah Nyah. I read that first." ;o)

I'm writing book #4. Which is coming along slowly, what with everything else I'm doing right now. I'd be farther along though, if I'd get off my tiny hiney and write instead of watching TV, crocheting, playing poker, etc. So, again, no one to blame but myself.

Now, believe it or not, this post isn't meant as complaining. You see, I'm the kind of person who thrives in a high stress environment. When I had a day job, I always worked better when my desk was covered with stuff. It was during those times when I didn't have very many projects that I was bored out of my skull.

So, as I venture out to work on all my writing projects, the blanket I'm crocheting for my husband, the recipe I'm trying to create for Teddy's contest, or to teach homeschool (which is always present in the background of everything I do), don't worry about me. I'm in my element.

How are you all handling your projects these days?