Editing This n That

As I said in Saturday's post, I'm back into the red-inking phase of editing for my... third, I think... book. (Or was Blink #3? If so, then Justice was #4.) Anyway, so far the process is going well, but going slow. Yesterday I got two chapters done - three if you count the fact that I decided I'm going to toss what used to be the first chapter and begin the book with the next chapter. I'll be posting that now-defunct chapter over at Tabula Rasa later. It's pretty good, but it's also all backstory and with the new direction I'm taking Justice in, it's no longer even necessary backstory.

The first other two chapters are now bleeding red-ink, and several pages of my notebook are covered in stuff that probably should've been in the book in the first place. I can't wait to type it all in, but I'm trying to wait until I have the whole thing done. (We'll see if my patience holds out that long.)

One thing I forgot about red-inking... It's HARD. Much harder than editing directly on the computer. It's forcing me to rethink the wording, the plot points, the very structure of how this book is laid out. My new beginning scene didn't take that long, because I really have edited it to death already, but the second scene - eleven measly pages - took me nearly two hours to mark up last night. I wanted to quit halfway through. My eyes were beginning to cross. But I promised myself I'd finish the chapter before I went to bed, and that's what I did. This morning, I'm tired but very satisfied with the progress.

I think once I type in all the edits, I'll be pleased with the results. (Which is why my statement about waiting until all the hardcopy edits are finished might not be correct.)

That's my weekend in a nutshell. How are things going with you?

.