We had a very productive weekend. In between movie going and cleaning and making fried rice the boy and I sat down and figured out how to address all the problems in the novel. I now have a list of additions and edits to make and I’m very very happy about it.

It’s a substantial amount of work but most of it is rewriting and I don’t expect to add much more than 5k or so to the total wordcount. 10k is absolute tops, since I want to keep the whole thing under 100k. Some changes are ideas I’m vaguely annoyed at myself for not coming up with earlier, others are bits to add clarification of character or theme or whatnots.

I feel like I have direction with it again, and that makes me happy. I was feeling pretty stagnant and depressed about it for all of January, so this is a welcome change.

Today I am henna-ing my hair and rereading the current version of the manuscript so I can jot down additional notes. Tomorrow I’ll start on actual editing.

And hopefully Tessa will have found a new napping spot by then.

I did make her move after she started closing my tabs and muting my iTunes with her paws, though my typing didn’t seem to bother her. Such a helpful kitten she is.

Categories: writing

5 Comments

Paul · February 9, 2009 at 4:29 pm

That’s wonderful news about the novel – and a brilliant way to make the most of Mercury’s going direct again! I’m glad that it feels so much better. Good luck with starting the editing tomorrow… (And also good luck with keyboard-sitting kittens! Sheesh! :-))

Alicia · February 9, 2009 at 4:40 pm

Best of luck with the editing! It’s both frustrating and fun. It sounds like you’ve figured out which parts need fixing, so I hope the writing flows. Does your novel have a name?

Steph · February 9, 2009 at 5:05 pm

Oh, kitty.

erin · February 9, 2009 at 7:13 pm

Thanks, Paul! This particular retrograde was extra obnoxious, am very glad it’s over.

Alicia, the novel is called The Night Circus, it’s a bunch of interconnected vignettes about a black & white nocturnal Victorian circus. This is my third round of editing, so it’s mostly fine-tuning at this point, hopefully all will go smoothly.

Alicia · February 13, 2009 at 10:51 pm

Erin, I just now thought to check back here for responses. Apologies for the slowness. *blush*

I love the name of your novel! The concept sounds fascinating and original. I’ve never heard of anything quite like it. I hope I’ll be able to get my hands on it at the bookstore one day. 🙂

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