Back to revision

NaNoWriMo is officially over, and it's time to return to revisions.  I suppose I could take a break, but I finished my NaNo novel on November 15 - I've had enough of a break.  I have comments from three different readers to guide me through my cleanup of this new draft (it's the seventh or eighth iteration of the story, but only the second truly completed draft).  I've made a list of all the key revisions I need to complete before I send The Novel out to readers again, and it's...surprisingly not terrifying.  In fact, it's rather inspiring.  Every single revision will make my novel stronger.

The current Wordle display of The Novel's text.

Of course, one third of my critique group - Shayda Bakhshi - has challenged me to a fifteen-day revision duel.  Neither of us are entirely sure what this entails, but competition is the best way to keep me motivated, and the next fifteen days will be perfect for revision.  On the 16th day, I'll be moving to Portland! (More on that in a later post, when everything has been ironed out).  With some serious work, I could be done with all the minor revisions and one or two of the significant revisions by then.

I think my month-long break from The Novel will help me fix it even more.  Yes, I did spend the first week of NaNoWriMo repeatedly calling my NaNo main character, Abby, by The Novel main character's name, Meriwether.  However, they are very different people, and I confess I understand Meri so well at this point that I could probably write her in just about any scene - I don't think I'll have much trouble slipping into her mindset for revisions.

Finally, something on the horizon that I'd be absolutely thrilled to attend: Sirens, a conference devoted to women in fantasy literature.  Scholarly presentations on women in fantasy, plus networking and the possibility of skiing?  Yes, please.  I might even have to submit a proposal, though of course I'd have to write one first.

For now, though, life is far more mundane.  Off to find something to throw at the massive spider lurking in my shower to scare it back into hiding.