On Agent E's advice, I'm deep into revisions for the YA based on some editorial comments and a few things I came up with on my own. There is a danger in picking up a manuscript that you haven't read for awhile because often you'll read over your own writing with feelings of nausea working their way into dreaded disbelief. That manuscript you thought was so fast-paced and witty is actually a steaming pile of junk and should only be used as recycled paper for your kid's second grade class to color on. Thankfully, I had the opposite reaction.
I hadn''t read it over in a month, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I still liked it. Oh sure, there were a few points where I felt it dragged and got free with the 'delete' key, but on the whole it wasn't embarrassing or cringe-worthy.
Robin from Discomermaids had a fun post about pens and the revision process the other day. A week or so ago she even posted a couple of photos of marked-up pages that she was working on which made me think about all of the different ways of revising there are in the world. I used to print out the whole enchilada and try to take notes, but in the end decided that this was a colossal waste of trees. Now I just write down some of the things that I want to change/include/delete and start at page one. As I get to places where I could reasonably insert the new character or theme, I just start typing (in a different color so that Agent E can see what I'm doing without having to read all 206 pages over again). The funny thing is, first draft of the book came in at about 54k, the tweaks here and there have added almost 6k, and I figure I'll add a few thousand more words before I'm done. Which will make it just the right length for a YA. Or at least, this YA.
On this date: In 1972, Ziggy Stardust's debut performance.
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