November 15
Though it took longer than I anticipated, I got my manuscript to a local printer and had several copies made for the next evaluation group. Once they went out I got a little nervous - and a little excited. :) I've been given a little verbal feed-back since I handed the first copy out. Today I had a meeting (an actual, I'll-meet-you-"there"-and-well-discuss-things meeting) to get the first Official feed-back. My manuscript, about a third its original size due to single line spacing and double side printing, came back with a myriad of colored stickies flagging question/trouble spots. And believe it or not, I'm really encouraged! Most of the flags were for grammar or spelling errors (neither can be considered strengths for me) that my ever-wise artificial intelligence spell checker missed, so the multitude of flags are easy fixes.
But when it came down to evaluating the story as a whole, the comments I was give were really wonderful. And now I'm almost to the "Really Excited" stage, because from where I sit it looks like we're almost done!
God could change that in half a heartbeat, and I'm willing to keep going if He does.
Just so you know. :)
August 31
I think I'm done. The major re-writes have been done, bits have been cut and pasted to smooth in the new bits. Now all that needs doing is to have someone check over this new bit to make sure it flows smoothly. I'm sure there will be another full evaluation and critique after that, but I'm too tired to think about that.
Thank you so much for your prayers.
August 26
I was pretty encouraged when I was able to stay on track with my editing schedule last week at camp. With the end-of-camp concert Friday evening and traveling home Saturday I got behind again, though I'd expected that. Technically I'm still behind . . . but there ended up being a bit of a "Margin of Error" in my calculations. (Don't ask - it had something to do with using the wrong file page count for all the math calculations.)
BUT . . . . the good news is that I'm about to start working on the first chapter of the manuscript's Part Five: which translates "three chapters to completion", or approximately 13 pages depending on how you want to look at it. :)
Please keep praying because I'm now deep within the area that needs re-writing. And quite frankly, if the climax of the story doesn't work none of it will.
August 23
Oh for crying out loud! I know I posted several updates between the 8th and now, and for some reason blogger got rid of them. Sometimes I wonder about technology . . . . it was kind of discouraging to see the progress posts - especially the one where I caught up - gone. (Any ideas on how to get them back?)
August 8
When Sharpi does a NaNoWriMo challenge, she has this really great graph that keeps track of her progress, measuring her current word count against where she should be in order to finish on time. I realized if I was going to finish this mass edit within a specified time frame, I should have something similar. Unfortunately I'm not technologically gifted enough to write my own code for a graph or chart - so I had to resort to the old fashioned method of doing my own math. I knew word count wasn't going to help me much; though this isn't officially a re-write, editing is changing my word count. So I divided the number of pages in the last draft by 30 days: if I edit eight pages per day, I'll finish on time.
"No problem!" I thought to myself and though I didn't exactly know what page I was working on, I was pretty sure I was close . . . . . until I wrote out the 8 times tables for 30 days and realized I should finish editing page 64 today.
Oooo . . . . I think I'm just a leeetle bit behind. How much is a little, you ask? Umm . . . I'm working on page 30. I had a lot of really good ideas for posts this week, too. Maybe if I switch my wireless connection off and fortify myself with a good cup of tea I can get another ten pages done before bed.
August 3
The irony of launching a blog the same day my mass edit project was to start is that, while the blog got launched no editing happened on Day One. Not such a promising beginning, is it. Instead of getting wrapped up in my grand plans, I'm having to remember that I have to take this one day at a time - and be a good steward of the time I have. (Not one of my strong points . . . . still working on it.)
While I was working last night I realized that I had 'misplaced' a chapter I thought I had already edited, which turned out to be a good thing: I'd missed tweaking a few details and it still needed work. So . . . . as of this morning, I'm almost done editing chapter four. :) It isn't much, but I'll take it.
8/1/11
A while ago - way back this spring before spring recital - dad told me he wanted me to finish the latest edit on my book so we could move on to the next stage of getting it published. My goal was to work on it every day. That only happened a couple days when I was sick, despite my best intentions. Sharpi, who is a fan of NaNoWriMo, suggested I apply the same idea to August, only as hard-core editing instead of writing. As it turns out, I need all the encouragement I can get.
I'm already having a really difficult time with this edit. It is a 'polishing' edit rather than a 're-write' edit, and it is increasingly difficult to know what is missing in the descriptive words that I automatically see in living color in my head. Since this is the fourth edit (or fifth - I can't remember now) I thought this was supposed to get easier rather than harder. Ah well . . . it won't edit itself. Back to the trenches!
