Sunday, August 24, 2008

Revision from Killer Nashville

While I attended Killer Nashville, one of the professional writers there critiqued the first ten pages of my manuscript. She was really nice about it, but basically said that I have a lot to learn. Since the conference, I have looked at those ten pages and realized that she was very correct. So, my story has been ripped apart in an attempt to revamp it.

Fighting with my ego to take the constructive criticism was a little difficult. I went in to the conference thinking that those pages were very polished. It was nice, though, for me to have someone else look at the pages with fresh eyes. After I've been staring at the ink on paper for months on end, I've found that it's difficult for me to be objective about what I've written.

Now, my scene is entirely different. Hopefully, my rewrite has made it better. Now, I just need to do the same for the remaining twenty some chapters! I'm fighting the urge to start writing the rough draft of the other book I have in my head and continue on the rough draft of the other a third book I was writing before I found out about the upcoming Killer Nashville conference. Writing something from scratch is much, much easier than revision. So far, I'm winning the battle against those urges. Hopefully, I will continue to win that battle rather than shelving this manuscript again.

Ever since I started back up at my day job, I've also discovered that I am more productive with my writing time when I'm working. Having ALL day to stare at the computer screen in my office prompted lots of time for solitaire, www.pente.net, and other random time consumers. Now, when I can only devote an hour or two per day to writing, I actually write. What a concept!

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