I thought it would be fun to remind myself later when I was editing book three of the Dai series that I've been there, conquered that, so I decided to keep a little Notepad of my thoughts during my final edit of book two.
14 pages in... Let's just say, it's not pretty...
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
2010-05-01
I am on page 7 of 123.
I currently feel like rocking back and forth saying, "I don't wanna, I don't wanna" at the idea of having to edit this thing one. more. time.
I just don't think I can do it again.
But I'm going to.
Because I want it to be DONE.
Also, I'm worried about consistency. I think there are sections of Dai's thoughts I need to take out, which means I need to take a fresh eye at it and start from start to finish.
***
I hate the first two paragraphs. I hate them. They're driving me crazy.
***
In a book written in third-person, in their perspective, is it okay to use "here," and "this"? Or do you always use "there" and "that"?
***
I had to move an entire scene to ten pages later.
***
Page 2 of 123
Three paragraphs in and I hate this. It sounds horrible. All of it. I can't publish this crap.
***
Page 3 of 123
Starting to feel better. I hate descriptions.
...
Starting to feel worse.
"He placed his hand on the door handle, pushed, and was out of the room before she could say another room."
Ugh.
***
You have these sentences that you put in to "catch attention", but in the edit you realize they're more jarring than attention getting, and you have to add modifiers to soften the blow and finesse them in. That's disheartening, because you know what you were trying to achieve, and when you discover it didn't work... *sigh*
***
Page 4 of 123
I remember this feeling. I'd forgotten it. This feeling of, "Oh my god, this is so uninteresting. Why would anyone read this garbage? It's so... boring." It happened to me during my last final edit, too.
Maybe that's how you know it's done?
***
My husband is playing WoW. I want to play WoW. I don't want to edit anymore.
This sucks.
I could just sign in for a couple of minutes...
But I won't. I really, really want to finish this before end of day. Then send it over to my husband tomorrow to read. Then never look at it again.
***
Page 5 of 123
Just changed one of the lines I've had since draft 1. One of the first lines I ever wrote in this whole thing.
Awesome.
Not that I was super attached to it, but it was kind of a defining line for me.
***
Just woke up from a three hour nap. Still don't want to edit anymore. Had a cool dream about vampires that I think I might want to write. Now I REALLY don't want to edit anymore.
***
Just submitted "The Quest of Dai: The Eroe" for the Writer's Digest self-publishing award in the category of young adult.
Weird.
Hope I did it right... It cost $125.
Also... I hope I win. Usually contests pick books that are all like, meaningful. My book isn't meaningful. It's just entertaining.
Ugh.
***
6/123
I feel like I could recite this; I've read it so many ******* times.
***
I think I just turned a nice paragraph into an entire paragraph of run-on sentences in order to cover up a sentence that didn't quite fit.
Nice work, Viv.
***
past? passed? Damn it.
***
*currently trying to figure out how to kill time so I don't have to edit anymore...* Wonder what's happening on General Hospital lately...
***
Can't get into the "writing spirit". It's just not happening. Can't concentrate. Can't focus. DAMN IT. I think I'll write something fun. Considered reading, but I think I need to get into that mind frame. So I will write.
***
That seemed to help...
***
7/123
I have a sudden desire to bake chocolate chip cookies. I never bake anymore.
***
Just changed "six" to "four" throughout the doc. That sucked. Six sounds cooler.
***
Ways to kill time:
Hop on WoW and discuss raid and raids for alts.
Bake a cake. (seriously)
Time check: 5:50 P.M.
***
After the mocking I got about italics in book one, I'm afraid of them. It's probably a good thing, except I think there are some instances where I need them and I didn't put them in. ... I'm putting some of them in. I think there are five in the entire book.
***
8/123
And the reason the final edit gets done... Just turned a sentence that was blase into awesome. Adrenaline gets pumping, excitement kicks in... Happiness, once again.
***
9/123
Note to self: Must remember to format the chapter headings properly.
Note to self: Just remembered I cut a chapter. Must go back and renumber after chapter... something.
Note to self: Must remember to name chapters. Current names of chapters do not match chapter themes. (Damn it...)
Time check: 6:12 P.M.
***
11/123
Discovered "dark" six times in two paragraphs. Cannot think of another way to describe it. Irritated.
Time kill: Looking up pictures of celebrities that may potentially work as the characters.
Time check: 6:55
Time kill: Putting the pictures of the celebrities all onto one wallpaper so you don't have to flip between windows.
Time kill: Cleaning off icons from desktop so you can see the wallpaper you're about to create.
Time check: 7:20 - Done making new background. Motivation!
***
14/123
Time check: 8:30 P.M.
Been reading/editing this whole time.
Gone three pages in an hour and ten minutes?
*sigh*
0 comments:
Post a Comment