Counting Down to Revisions

Two things.

First, as I am reading my previous post MyNoRevisMo, I am realizing the name sounds as though I will do NO revising this month. So, my announcement now needs revision by way of a new name. First, we’ll shorten Revis to just Rev. The NO and MO seem fine it’s the MY at the beginning I need to change.

Ideas
Total Novel Revision Month – ToNoRevMo
Our Novel Revision Month – OuNoRevMo (sounds too much like oh no rev mo)
Total Novel Editing Month – ToNoEdiMo or ToNoEdMo

I like the first one. What do you think? Any other ideas?

Second, would anyone be interested in having a chaotic month of editing/revising with me? You can click this spreadsheet to be taken to the previous post which better explains my thought process. You would need to work out the numbers for your novel depending on the number of sections or chapters your current draft has.

This link will take you to my About Me page with ways to get in touch.

The plan is to post updates here at least weekly to track progress and hold myself accountable. I’m excited to start!

MyNoRevisMo

Most are familiar with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), but what about those of us in endless revisions? The thought of writing something new while trying to revise my already written novel seems mad. Mad I tell you!

I present to you My Novel Revision Month (MyNoRevisMo). During the 30 days of November, I set a goal to have revised the entire manuscript with multiple pass throughs, and claim by midnight 11/30/2023 — I have a viable novel ready for publication! Seems crazy right? Well, so is writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

Yes, I know there are multiple NaNo related camps in which to write, edit, or pretty much do whatever you wish. While those are great, they just don’t have the urgency of a WriMo. I want to get wrapped up in my story like a warm blanket I spilled soup on last week and forgot to wash. I want to get crazy with what if’s and feel the time looming over me — nay, pushing me to do more. I want 30 minute sprints with other revisers to fix issues and solve plot holes. I want to share short paragraphs to get opinions on the wording or structure.

Currently, the draft has 37 sections or potential chapters. There are 30 days in November. So, add the 4 and take away 17 … that leaves me with 1.2333 sections per day. But that’s only if I do one pass. There’s no way I can get this in shape in one pass. Let’s go with 5 … 5 passes start to finish. More math and that’s 6.1667 sections per day. Now we are getting somewhere. This needs to be challenging right?

Here’s how this looks on paper for my novel. Someone else will have different results as I am sure they will have a different number of chapters. It’s not a one size fits all kinda format.

So, that’s plan. I will revise at least 6 sections each day with 5 pass throughs.

Yep. Gonna do it.

It’s Over So Soon?

The 2023 James River Writers Conference was amazing! All of the panel authors and agents were not only full of invaluable information, but they were also engaging and fun. I picked up The Hunger by Alma Katsu and West of Apocalypse by Bill Blume and was able to have both signed. Everyone was so approachable and friendly, and I met several new people with similar writing styles. I attended panels on horror, speculative fiction, and effective character arcs. It’s not all about the words on the page, though. I also attended panels about self-sabotage, persisting and finding a writing community. This is my 4th year attending this conference, and I can without a doubt say this was the best one yet.

We were lucky enough to hear Sadeqa Johnson and Dawn Michelle Hardy talk about their paths to success, and relationships between author, agent, and publicist. I could have listened to them for hours.

As a bonus, I was able to have a professional photographer take headshots while at the conference. Very nice photographer and beautiful shots. I’ll post them here when I receive them.

The one on one with the agent was a bust. My work is not what he’s looking for, but he did give me the name of another agent in the same agency who does look for this type of novel. He said I could mention he referred me. While I was pretty disappointed in the interaction, I’m taking it as a win. I was able to gain experience pitching my novel and I gained a contact at an agency.

I am already counting the days (361) to next year’s conference.

Ten Days (and counting)

Progress!

I made it past a big issue with this draft. There was an uncle in this story. He’s no longer needed, but I still needed the story to go along the same path. On the advice from my son, I did “the bubbles” which is brainstorming on paper. I have one of those huge drawing/writing pads like they used on Win, Lose, or Draw in the late ’80’s, but these will also stick to the wall like humongous post-it notes. I put one beside me at my writing desk. Within ten minutes, I had my answer.

Tonight, I made it work. I changed several scenes to take out any mention of the uncle while keeping the flow moving. There are still scenes to fix, but this feels better. I think they (the characters) like it better, too. Time will tell though. They are a fickle bunch.

No blurb yet. But soon.

Twelve Days (and counting)

Hello, my name is Wendy, and I am a procrastinator.

I signed up for the James River Writers Conference months ago. I also signed up for a 15 minute one-on-one with an agent to chat about my novel. Yep, to chat about a first draft novel with so many loose ends and nonsensical story lines I’m not sure what I would say if he asked that dreaded question — “So what’s your novel about?” — and I watch his smile fall while I meander through this crazy world I’ve built using far too many words and speckled with um and so until my voice muffles under the weight of the muddy descriptions hovering over me.

No thank you. I have twelve days to get my story together enough to create at least a blurb about it. An honest to goodness blurb. Plenty of time to write it, fix it and write it again. I will also continue to edit as I am working out this blurb.

Yep. I got this.

Just Get Through It …

I swear I am trying. I am truly trying to get through enough edits to feel like I have a handle on this draft by October 6th. What’s that? You want to know why October 6th? Well. October 6th – October 8th is the 21st Annual James River Writers Conference, and I have the opportunity to speak with an agent about my book. Yes, an actual, real life agent. My goal is to give a blurb that makes sense in which I sound like I am the one that wrote this book and not a 5th grader giving a book report about a book I only read to page 42. In order to reach this goal, I need to know this story from start to finish, and the story I wrote has become something else.

I managed to get through 100% of the draft and break it down into the Save the Cat! beats. Does my story line up with the expected beats? Not exactly. Some areas are pretty close and others are way off the rails. However, I did it.

Next, I am using Plottr to dive deep into the beats. Plottr lets me use a timeline to see scene order with lots of additional tags and details. It’s taken me a minute (or 60) to get the feel for Plottr, but after a few YouTube tutorials, I think I have it down. I am stopping for the day while I have a goal so the next time I will know exactly where to start.