I took another step on my journey of figuring out how to write a novel this week. In an attempt to pull myself up by my bootstraps and self-motivate some action in the writing department since writer's group looms over my head, I reached out to my editor for some advice.
I know what you're thinking: Wait, she has an editor? But she isn't even finished with her first draft! This is my friend who I found out recently is also an editor. He will be tasked with editing my work once I get it finished. And since I think it is super cool to refer to the fact that I have an editor, I'll now be doing so every chance I get.
Remember I said I was currently discovering my own editing method? I told him what I had been doing and how unmotivated I'd become and asked for some advice on the whole process. Turns out, I was doing it all wrong. In my haste to have something for my writer's group to see, I was doing the editing completely out of order. I was editing on the micro level instead of the macro level. I haven't even worked out the big picture and filled in all the gaps yet. I haven't figured out what the outline is to make sure I flow from scene to sequel and back to scene yet. All this has to happen before we go through chapter by chapter which is what I'd been doing with my alpha-readers.
AH-HA! No wonder I wasn't feeling the flow! It was like recapping a race I hadn't even trained for yet.
I know my writer's group is going to be sad that they won't get to see what I'm up to for a while again, but I'm back to the writing desk. This time with some direction on how to get from here to the end. And with my new knowledge I'm excited to be here again which is the whole point.
This also reminded me of something else a lot of people have said... Writing is damn hard work.
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