Dang! Forgot to hit "publish" before I went camping!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group and connect with your fellow writer - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Every month, the IWSG provides an optional question that
members can answer in their IWSG post. These questions may prompt advice, insight, a personal experience or story.
Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!
June 2 question - For how long do you shelve your first draft, before reading it and re-drafting? Is this dependent on your writing experience and the number of stories/books under your belt?
Please do answer this question in the comments! I'm interested in how others handle this curious part of the writing process. (Note: I have fled the insane heat in CA's lowland interior and probably won't read responses until Thursday night or Friday).
My own answer to the question is still evolving. Before I get to that, let's start with the writer's update.
The novel planning and plotting continues rather slowly, but I'm pleased to say that this week I have completed and shared one short story, and drafted my WEP story for the 16th. I have also finished (I think) messing with the cover for my fourth short story collection, Clues, Cops, & Corpses (revealed below, because why not!). I'm planning to launch that into the world on the 14th, but it's available for pre-orders at Amazon now!
That about sums up my progress, so how about that question?
My ability to get back to a project has improved--a LOT--as I've gained experience. Part of that is the gradual change from looking at revisions as some kind of torment to seeing them as a creative act, if more challenging than the original composition. So instead of letting an MS sit around for a year while I piled up other new work that needed to be revised, for the last several books it's been a matter of months, sometimes as little as two (that depends on the travel schedule as much as anything).
I think two months might be about the minimum to get my brain to shift from playing with the bright shiny new toy to figuring out how to make it better, if we are talking novels. For short stories, the next day will do, and fifteen minutes for flash fiction on a deadline :D
Okay--your turn! How long do you like to let a story or novel steep?
And here's that cover:
I can't say that I have a set time between write and re-write. It depends. That's why I didn't answer this question in my own post. But I can say that I love editing and revising, maybe more than I like the original writing. When I write the first draft, the result is 'disheveled' and disorderly. Revising brings order to my work - and that makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteI've had to learn to appreciate that work of bringing order to the first-draft mess! I think it comes from things being too easy when I was in school--some part of me is left feeling that if I have to fix it, I wasn't good enough. I know better, but...
DeleteI agree with you that my attitude to revisions has also changed from dread to 'quite interested'. Partly, I suspect, because I have confidence in the comments my beta readers make, and they never make me feel stupid, or belittled. I was genuinely frightened of feedback in the past :)
ReplyDeleteGetting over a fear of criticism has been big. That took a long time—and because I feared what others would say, I would be afraid to read my own work for fear it would be “stupid.”
DeleteSo funny that you think of revising as torture. That's what I think of writing a first draft. I love revising. Too bad I have to be tortured today and start my next chapter but it's the only way to get my manuscript done.
ReplyDeleteYou are in the minority, I think. I like the way words flow (in the best case) while I’m just making up the story. Revising is getting to be more fun, though.
DeleteHa! I love that title ;)
ReplyDeleteI let my draft sit. And sit. And sit. But wait, that's procrastination in disguise! LOL. But seriously, I think a month's rest really helps.
Hey, necessary time to let a MS mature isn’t procrastination! Though maybe it is if you don’t do anything else writerly in the meantime. :)
DeleteGreat cover!
ReplyDeleteI need a few weeks or more as well. It's still so close to my brain if I try before that!
Glad you like the cover—I’m having fun learning to make my own, just for these little collections
Delete