Blogfest 2009

A lot. I’d say 90% of my writing time is spent rewriting. Which is probably one of the many reasons why I can’t read my own stuff–by the time it’s on the shelves, I’ve read it so many times that the thought of looking at it again terrifies me.

I’m a writer, but for only part of the time. Mostly I’m a re-writer. Thank goodness for word processing. I am constantly re-working what I’ve written. I’ll write X number of pages in a day. The next day begins with complete re-write of those pages before moving on. It never ends. Actually, that’s not true. It does end. I have never read a book I’ve written after it was published. I’ve tried, but it’s a horrible experience because invariably I will cringe at what I’ve written and want to re-write it immediately…but can’t. I’m sure I’ll read this answer in BlogFest and want to re-write it!

The short answer: Tons. The longer answer is a little more complicated. I work and rework a scene maybe dozens of times. Sometimes I make little changes, like a word here or there, and sometimes I change the entire feel and rhythm and structure of a scene. The part of the book I take the most time getting right is the beginning. Beginnings are so important, and they are also so darn difficult. You want to hit all the right notes, you want your reader to be in your world right away. Mostly, you just want the reader to keep reading.

My process is to make changes and edits as I write a first draft. Some writers are able to write straight through a draft without looking back, but not me. I am always in the rearview mirror, making adjustments and trying to polish and refine. I just have to make those changes as I go, or the whole thing ends up jumbled and mixed up. By the time I am finished with that “first” draft, I’ve probably changed the story a million times and it’s pretty close to looking like what the final draft will look like.

If I had it my way, I would tinker with my books forever. Even now, I’ll look at Shug and see something I wish I could change just ever-so-slightly. It’s hard to ever really be done with a thing.

I have to admit my biggest flaw as a writer is that I hate to proofread and edit.  It’s like once I get it out I want it out of my face, but that can’t work when you have to turn your work in to your editor.  You must rewrite at least once before turning in a piece.  I what you call “lazy” when it comes to jumpstarting the editing process, but once I get pass chapter one then I’m on a roll.  It’s just getting motivated to jump in so to speak.  So when it’s all said and done, I usually do two rewrites when I’m working on a piece.

Enough to make me want to play hooky!