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Feb. 17th, 2009 07:31 pmWhat a day this has been for my writing.
First, and way coolest, is that I came home tonight to discover that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gregx posted a list of quotes by my character Rafe in Prelude. That anyone even remembers and appreciates Rafe is thrilling - I loved the guy. But that someone would like him enough to create a "wisdom of Rafe" list...! Wow. And just for the record, gregx is an intelligent guy of great taste. He's a huge Gargoyles fan, which, for most of you, proves that point. So I am thrilled and will probably never get to sleep tonight. (Greg, if you're reading this, I'm saying, "You're the best.") I sure hope my Ruthless Editor finishes with the two chapters I sent her soon, so I can stay fired up to finish this story at last.
On a less ecstatic note, but still a good one, late last night the editor of Writers Exchange, who is going to publish Mr. Harding Proposes as an ebook, was working on the final edits, and since I was online, we did them together. There were very few, and it should be posted soon. I know this is going to sound weird, but I was more excited about doing edits with a pro than I was about the imminent publication. I actually love revision. I could trot out the old cliche about it being like cutting and polishing a diamond, but that's not it at all. It's much more like running out to play in autumn leaves, throwing them about with glee while at the same time putting them into neat stacks. That's what it feels like - play.
I have observed that listening to an audiobook gives me a different, usually better view of the book. And I read in Writers Digest that reading your story aloud could help you spot errors. So yesterday, I took my second Regency romance and read as much of it as I could, about a third of it, into my little handheld digital recorder. While I read aloud, I made a few corrections. Not many. But I decided to convert it to MP3 files and put it on my Zen, and listen to it, making corrections from what I heard. I ended up with 32 corrections and changes! For only the first third of the book! It also forced me to reconsider the way I have worked in the secondary heroine - she has no POV scenes, and I'm wondering if that's good for the story's focus or cheats both her and her guy. Anyway, I'm going to do that for every book I write now, even if I do suck at reading aloud.
First, and way coolest, is that I came home tonight to discover that
gregx posted a list of quotes by my character Rafe in Prelude. That anyone even remembers and appreciates Rafe is thrilling - I loved the guy. But that someone would like him enough to create a "wisdom of Rafe" list...! Wow. And just for the record, gregx is an intelligent guy of great taste. He's a huge Gargoyles fan, which, for most of you, proves that point. So I am thrilled and will probably never get to sleep tonight. (Greg, if you're reading this, I'm saying, "You're the best.") I sure hope my Ruthless Editor finishes with the two chapters I sent her soon, so I can stay fired up to finish this story at last.On a less ecstatic note, but still a good one, late last night the editor of Writers Exchange, who is going to publish Mr. Harding Proposes as an ebook, was working on the final edits, and since I was online, we did them together. There were very few, and it should be posted soon. I know this is going to sound weird, but I was more excited about doing edits with a pro than I was about the imminent publication. I actually love revision. I could trot out the old cliche about it being like cutting and polishing a diamond, but that's not it at all. It's much more like running out to play in autumn leaves, throwing them about with glee while at the same time putting them into neat stacks. That's what it feels like - play.
I have observed that listening to an audiobook gives me a different, usually better view of the book. And I read in Writers Digest that reading your story aloud could help you spot errors. So yesterday, I took my second Regency romance and read as much of it as I could, about a third of it, into my little handheld digital recorder. While I read aloud, I made a few corrections. Not many. But I decided to convert it to MP3 files and put it on my Zen, and listen to it, making corrections from what I heard. I ended up with 32 corrections and changes! For only the first third of the book! It also forced me to reconsider the way I have worked in the secondary heroine - she has no POV scenes, and I'm wondering if that's good for the story's focus or cheats both her and her guy. Anyway, I'm going to do that for every book I write now, even if I do suck at reading aloud.