WHY DO OTHER PEOPLE LIKE EDITING THEIR WORK?
NaNoWriMo Writing Journal “2018”
Witches at the White House
HALLOWEEN 2019 – (NEW JERSEY) It’s true. I’m still editing Witches at the White House. I’m about halfway through the initial copyedit/looking for plot holes pass. As I’ve said many times in the past, I like to dump the story out of my head and not look back. Unfortunately that would make for some terrible stories. There’s hard work at every stage of writing. Editing to me, requires a lot more motivation. I’m likely to give myself distractions on purpose like making a month’s worth of images for the other job or taking Gus out for a walk. Or even, creating this post when I’m only halfway through a chapter I was editing.
Despite all that, I do love sharing my own process of storytelling from thoughts to final book. I love talking to other people about theirs too which is why Vodka O’Clock still exists though it’s truly within the Reaper’s grasp. I’ve only had five episodes out this year.
You can go back and see all the set up notes for Witches at the White House in the posts I started a year ago. I went over keeping pace with the word count guidelines to formally finish NaNoWriMo’s challenge. Daily life stuff and mental health and being busy with other things. Plenty of guilt about not spending as much time with Gus and human loved ones. It’s all there.
Today I want to show you how I’ve set up my Scrivener for editing mode.
I’m using Scrivener for Windows. I’m sure the Apple version is different.
- Left side: Navigation of chapters and notes
- Main window: my manuscript document
- Other window: a page from Jane Cleland’s Mastering Suspense, Structure, & Plot with an infographic on the pacing of a good story
- Right panel: the notes showing the synopsis of the chapter and other data such as draft revision
I’ve been created the Chapter Folders as I go along with the revisions. There’s a major way I originally identified my team of bad guys and rather than trying to Find/Replace in bulk, I’m doing it manually hoping that I have a better chance of catching all the instances.
NaNoWriMo 2019 (Yes, it’s kind of sort of happening):
If you missed an earlier about it, I’m being a NaNo Rebel this year. I’m going to try to work on a comic script based on The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency cat stories. It’s been about ten months or so since I’ve even tried to work on a comic script and to be real, the rejection even once scares me off. Since NaNo is a perfect time to play around, I’m using it to exercise my comic writing muscles instead of putting in 4-5 hours per day on a novel. I don’t have that time anymore and when I’m home, I’m fucking tired. You can add me as a buddy if you can find me.
I’m also going on a work vacation — a yoga retreat which begins today. I’m going to take a tablet along to see if I can make isolated time for myself to write at the lodge, but I honestly don’t know if that will happen in a house full of people who want to socialize. It sounds bad that I’m hinting at being disappointed about going to the mountains for four days. I also have to leave Gus at home with his cousin and grandparents. I broke out in hives the other night as emails came in asking me to teach a six-class series when I asked if we could table the discussion until I get back. Setting boundaries and trying to say no has so much guilt.
Other Relevant Stuff:
Felicia Day’s book on creativity, Embrace Your Weird
Mark Nepo’s book on creativity, Drinking from the River of Light
If you need a mental health break, I have three meditations so far on Insight Timer.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.