Last Friday started out perfect. I had every intention of finishing edits on the first 100 pages of my WIP followed by reading the results out loud to make certain it flowed. What happened? BUSHWACKER! The hubby decided to stay home from work and bless me with his lingering presence. I'm not sure how I managed to squeeze in three hours of edits.
I had fun at the lake club. It's important to balance writing with real life, and I'm a firm believer in that. I walked the dogs, socialized, took in a deep breath of nature, and spent time with the hubby. Okay, so I took my laptop just in case, but that's just for blog posting and surfing. My real writing is done on a desktop. I also brought along a favorite copy of a Lisa Kleypas novel. While I was reading it, I couldn't help but focus on her craft, the sentence structure, the depth she added to her characters. Then it hit me, I was studying while on vacation. I'm an addict.
Tuesday night I was finally able to tackle the final edits. The words flowed freely. I was more than a little pleased with the results. I reread every chapter after I write it. It's amazing the way writing can suck you in. Not only do you lose track of time but you're transported. I've found myself crying, laughing, aroused, nostalgic. If I can feel all this just from writing it then I must be instilling these very real emotions onto my characters, which means my readers (when the time does come and I have readers) will get it.
Last night I started reading everything out loud. I'm hoping to reach page 100 by tonight. The reason it's taken me this long aside from bushwacker is because the first pages were the hardest to write. I had to re-write several times. There's always something new popping into my head or some nifty acquired knowledge.
(Show but don't tell. Don't use too many passive words. Use action words. Make dialoque flow. Make characters real. Show us thoughts and emotions to reveal the characters and cause readers to connect. Pick a point of view. Agghhh!) Well there you have it. The crazy thing is that I enjoy all of it.
When I finally decide to query on this one, it'll be wonderful, and I've had a awesome time writing it.
Catch you on the blog....^-^.....
Next time he stays home-- make him read your book aloud to you. (=
ReplyDeleteLOL. I would love that, Jo, but I can't even get him to read it period.
ReplyDeleteHeh, how funny, I was just talking about the showing and not telling concept at my blog here recently. I bet all of us writers at some point talk about the same topics, guess that means we are all on the same page. Hopefully that is a good thing. Still kinda goofy, maybe even eerie how we said it within days of each other.
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