Things I write with

I talk about the software and computer-based goodies I use to write quite often. *cough*ALL THE TIME*cough* So I figured it was time to address some of the physical things.

1. The steampunk headphones
   Music plays a HUGE part in making my brain happy while writing. I struggle without it. And as a person who used to be a big fan of earbuds (so small, so portable!), let me tell you, these monster headphones changed my life. Let me tell you why:
• Earbuds hurt after a while--big happy headphones do not
• The sound quality is like singing angels
• People are theoretically less likely to talk to you if you look irritated about having to take the large headphones off to hear them speak
• On a similar note, putting them on is a little like blocking out the world and all of its delightful distractions
• Holy crap are these things are so comfortable they deserve two bullet points 
• If you're like me, the headphones become something of a tradition--wearing them means it's time to get writing
• Did I mention the steampunk aesthetic?


2. Smiley face computer
   I don't know about you guys, but I find it incredibly difficult to write with paper. Seriously. I think faster than I write, so writing by hand always turns into an exercise of frustration. On the other hand, I'm a super fast typer (we're talking like 70+ WPM people). Also, Scrivener can have my babies.


3. Notebook
   I know, I know. I just said that I don't like to write by hand, which is totally true. Then why do I need a notebook? When I get particularly stuck (and I'm talking REALLY, REALLY stuck), I like to brainstorm/free write by hand. There's just something about getting all of my messy ideas down by hand that actualizes them.


4. Crappy pen
   This is an important one. I love crappy BIC pens. They don't bleed through the pages, they's about the cheapest writing implement you can find, and despite everyone's whining, the ink flow is actually pretty decent. Also, if I lose my pen, there's no writerly drama about my perfect pen.

Okay, so most of that was pretty clean cut. I'm lacking the highlighters and the colored pens and the post-it notes and all of that good stuff . . . but in my defense, I'm a pretty green writer. I do most of my editing on the computer screen. HOWEVER, I will be whipping all of that crap out when I get to the line-edits stage. Maybe I'll do another post then, eh?

So what items do you guys need in order to write? Do you function on a level that's even more barebones than my own? Or are you a nightmare color-coding and wite-out? Tell me in the comments

WIP Wednesday: Week 13

Days Left to Deadline: -15
Days Worked On: 2
Morale: Melodramatic with a hint of good cheer
Total Word Count: 98,853 (-1072 from last week)

What I Worked On: CHAPTER 6. ALWAYS CHAPTER 6. Or, in the case of this week, chapter 6-3 and a teeny, tiny bit of 7-2. And because no one but be actually knows what that means, chronologically these are chapters 10 and 11.

Thoughts: This was my fake editing process*. I suspect my real editing process goes something like this:

1. Read drafted chapter and cringe.
2. Try to fix the hard parts.
3. Give up.
4. Go fix the easy parts.
5. Feel accomplished.
6. Realize that things would make more sense if I combined a few paragraphs or moved them around or some random little crap like that.
7. Implement #6, which takes far longer than it actually should.
8. Repeat #6 and #7 one more time.
9. Go back to #2.
10. Whine a bit.
11. Succeed this time around.
12. Revisit #8 for kicks and giggles.
13. The end.

The most important step is #8. Seriously, I feel like all I do is re-write things and then move them around six times. *rolls eyes*

Anyway, despite a bunch of whining and procrastinating, I got a decent amount of work done. Deleted a crappy info-dump flashback that's been pending for a whole. Re-wrote the entire dramatic rain sequence since it was lacking the appropriate drama. Also, finally got to the introduction of a character I've been looking forward to for a while now. *rubs hands together*

How about you guys? Get any work done this week, or did you procrastinate the crap out of that WIP? Tell me in the comments.

*Discovered as being fake as of 08/03/11.

WIP Wednesday: Weeks 10+11

Days Left to Deadline: -1
Days Worked On: A grand total of 1
Morale: Err, good or something?!
Total Word Count: 99,902

Thoughts: Well . . . despite not really writing at all for the last forever, there are some good things to report:

1. I am finally done moving. No more 12-hour car rides from hell. No more lugging boxes up and down stairs and into 60 mph winds. No more sleeping on a sofa bed.
2. I finally have internet again. Yes. Full-fledged internet access where pages load quickly and where I can actually access Blogger to reply to your comments and where I can abuse Spotify to my heart's content.
3. There is no three, but the list seemed incomplete with only two items. Let's just say that with the advent one one and two, life is better.

Okay, so none of those things are really writing related . . . but they give me hope for upcoming productivity in the coming weeks! *shakes fist*

Anyway, you also may have noticed how I am, uhh, one day past my self-imposed goal of doom. This is because I failed. Not only did I fail, I failed pretty miserably. The original goal was to edit my entire WIP by March 6th at 11:59 PM so I could have taken less than a year to edit it. Because, umm, it's super depressing to consider how slow I am. Unfortunately . . . I edited about a third of it. Less than a third.

HOWEVER. Something good did come of this failed experiment:

I have edited 18,209-ish words of my WIP!

And I did cut 3,657 words out of that stuff I edited!

And there are only 79,735-ish words left to edit!

*tosses confetti*

Yay for the bright side! I think I might keep up these WIP Wednesday posts until I actually make the freaking goal. It seems fitting. And I like to pretend that you guys are holding me accountable or something. I doubt anyone really is . . . but I feel bad whenever I have to write the "I suck and didn't write this week" posts. SO BRING ON THE GUILT.

Now tell me, have any of you failed a writing goal before? Was it because the goal in itself was outlandish, or was it because life reared its ugly head? Tell me what happened in the comments!

WIP Wednesday: Week 8

For all of you who don't know the story behind my WIP Wednesday posts (you know, besides the obvious), check out this post and this post for some details.

Days Left to Deadline: 20?!
Days Worked On: Err . . . 1
Morale: Honestly, haven't thought about it . . . so, uhh, not despairing? I guess?
Total Word Count: 99,904 (+27 from last week)

Thoughts: Yeah, I spent most of this last week stressed out about certain life-related things. So the one day that I did work on my writing resulted in a big fat nothing. What can I say? External stress ≠ a happy writing time. *shrug*

However, things are looking up and I have been brain-storming, so I'm thinking next week will be a bit better.

WIP Wednesday: Week 7

This week was not particularly thrilling OR particularly horrible. Ugh normalcy.

Days Left to Deadline: 27
Days Worked On: Only 3 this week
Morale: Good . . . and then not-so-good
Total Word Count: 99,877 (+220 *le sigh*)

Thoughts: My writing was going well. I finished chapter 6-2 (like I said last week, it was going freakishly quickly) and it was awesome. Not really much else to mention on that front.

Then I tackled chapter 6-3. Which is just miserable. Actually, scratch that. I don't really think I was in a good mental place for editing when I was working on it . . . so it might not be all that horrible. Either way, that last night of editing this week was a tough one. :( Here's to next time!

How to find yourself some CPs

Last Monday I talked all about alpha readers, critique partners, and beta readers. I also promised that I'd tell you guys how to find people to fulfill those roles in your life . . . and today is that day.

Now, the answer is quite simple: just make some friends. These are the people who are going to be honest about your writing, who are going to cheer you up and cheer you on, who are going to help you the most. Maybe you just want an acquaintance, but I definitely suggest a friend.

But let's get down to business:

Where to go

1. If you're determined to know your editing partners in person, try a local writing group. You can meet people via NaNoWriMo or in writing classes too.
2. There's also the standard online methods to meet people. Check out writing blogs and there is an impressive writing community just waiting to chat with you on Twitter.
3. Go to reputable writing forums like Verla Kay's Blue Boards and Nathan Bransford's forums
4. There are a ton of social writing websites that are great places to meet other serious writers. Some good examples are Inkpop, Book Country, Figment, and FictionPress. Goodreads is mostly for readers, but you're likely to find some writers prowling about.
5. There is also the super specialized Ladies Who Critique. It's essentially a dating website for finding critique partners, and despite the name, people of both genders are welcome.

What to look for

1. The kind of person who can be what you need. Different writers need help with different things, so make sure to find CPs that you're compatible with. The best way to test this is to trade pages with someone (say, 50 pages) and see if you like each other's critiquing style.
2. Someone who can separate personal and professional. Critiquing isn't about hurting each other, or reacting poorly to fair criticism.
3. A friend. It helps to know someone and respect someone. Like I said earlier, this isn't super necessary . . . or maybe even what you want . . . but it's definitely a perk. I mean, you'll get to read their awesome writing too!

So how does that sound? Have you used any of these methods to find an alpha reader, a critique partner, or a beta reader? Better yet, do you have any further recommendations for those of us who have been on the hunt? If so, tell me in the comments! 

WIP "Wednesday": Week 6

This time January's Book Roundup booted WIP Wednesday out of its rightful spot, so once again, a post on Thursday. How scandalous!

Days Left to Deadline: 33
Days Worked On: Pretty sure it was 3
Morale: Freakishly optimistic
Total Word Count: 99,657 (-318 . . . oh yeah)

Thoughts: Some exciting things happened this week. Let me tell you about them:

• Rewrote the ending of chapter 4-3, which was a) kind of mediocre, b) bothering me, and c) making it difficult to keep continuity between chapters 4-3 and 4-4.
• Finished chapter 4-4! That's right--it's done! There might still be some OOC-ness in the middle bits, but at this point I need some time away from it.
• Added 400 words, went back over the 100,000 word total, was saddened, then deleted 600 and got back down again. Wooo.
• Renamed one of my characters. It's been something I've been thinking about for a while, and I think I've finally decided on a suitable name for him.
• Edited at least half of chapter 6-2 in one night. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, considering how nightmarish all of my other editing has been. Has my judgement gone astray, or was this chapter just easier? Crossing my fingers for more nights like this.

Now, I've been meaning to ask, how is your guys' writing going? Have you been getting anything done? Obviously you all should start doing WIP Wednesday with me . . . or tell me about your writing week in the comments. Let's write together!

Alphas, CPs, and betas

So, the last time I got to go to a writing meeting with my Idaho Falls peeps, I got to do a presentation of different types of editing partners. It was thrilling. But since I typed up all that information anyway, I figured I might as well share it with you guys too.

Now, before we get into the meat of the post, you just need to remember that, unfortunately, this terminology is a little interchangeable (particularly CPs and beta readers). I'm just giving you my interpretation. Okay?

Alpha Readers

• What are they?
  Alpha readers are the people you give chapters to while you're in the middle of writing your manuscript. They're all about mid-draft idea bouncing and morale boosting.
• Why do you need them?
  Alpha readers are kinda rare, but that's because many people don't need one. They're the cheerleaders of the writing world--the people who give you a push to keep writing or offer you a second opinion early on.
• Who should you look for?
  An alpha reader can be anyone, though spouses are pretty good. The general idea is that your alpha reader isn't going to critique you on anything, so don't expect your hardcore critique partners to be alpha readers.
• So who are your alpha readers?
  Boyfriend and Kirstin. Boyfriend has some magical brainstorming powers and Kirstin is very good at not letting me fall into a vortex of despair and self-loathing.

Critique Partners

• What are they?
  Critique partners are the hard-hitters. They read your finished drafts, make all sort of edits, and help you determine what needs to be changed. These are the people who know your story as well as you do, love your characters to death, and will help you succeed.
• Why do you need them?
  You are biased towards your story. Critique partners are not. They are the voice of reason and can help you make objective editing decisions.
• Who should you look for?
  A writer who is a) not afraid to tell you when something sucks OR rocks, b) who is capable of separating professional and personal, and c) will not let you get away with anything subpar. Past that, everyone wants something different in a critique partner. Maybe you need a male CP to help you tweak your male POV, or someone who can understand your characters' motivations better than you can. Every writer has different strengths and weaknesses, so you and your CPs should compliment each other.
• So who are your critique partners?
  Well, the lovely Brenna for one. And Daniel and I have been talking about trading pages. However, past that, no one yet. :) I'm definitely interesting in chatting with any interested parties . . . though be warned, I'm a super slow editor and am nowhere near ready for, well, anything.

Beta Readers

• What are they?
  Beta readers are the final step of the editing process. After you've edited your manuscript into the grave, it's good to let some fresh eyes take a look. These are the people who will check your manuscript for readability and consistency.
• Why do you need them?
  They haven't read your manuscript before, so they don't have outside knowledge and they aren't attached to any previous versions of it. Thus, they're representative of an actual reader, which is important.
• Who should you look for?
  You want someone that likes to read. That's all that's really needed, though fellow writers are always good at paying careful attention to story elements.
• So who are your beta readers?
  Uhh, good question. I don't really have any now. I might hit up my NaNoWriMo group or do a call-out on Twitter. *shrug* We'll see when I get that far.

So there you go! Next week I'll talk about where you can find a fabulous alpha reader, critique partner, or a beta reader to help you with your manuscript. Look forward to it. *thumbs up*

But until then, what do you think about all of the different types of editing partners? Have you heard about all three of these roles before, or are any of them new to you? And do you have alpha readers, critique partners, and beta readers? Tell me in the comments!

WIP Wednesday: Week 5

Yes, despite my packing and despite my endless driving, I have been writing!

Days Left to Deadline: 41
Days Worked On: 3 or 4-ish?
Morale: Still doing okay
Total Word Count: 99,975 (300 less than last week)

Thoughts: Was almost done with chapter 4-4 and it was awesome . . . but then everything got irritating. Realized that the beginning of chapter 4-4 should really be back in 4-3 . . . which is written from a different POV . . . which is the POV that the beginning of chapter 4-4 was originally in. Sigh. Also realized that characters are out-of-character in the middle of chapter 4-4.

So everything is out-of-whack.

Also, total word count went back below 100,000! Woo! If you weren't sure, this is a Big Deal. Trying to get the end total to be somewhere around 90,000-ish though . . . so I still have a bit to go.

WIP "Wednesday": Week 4

Well, since yesterday was all about making statements regarding SOPA and PIPA, here's my standard WIP Wednesday post a day late:

Days Left to Deadline: 47
Days Worked On: Uhh . . . two
Morale: Still doing pretty good
Total Word Count: 100,275 (that's down 170 words from last week)

Thoughts: Didn't increase my work hours any, but I have a decent excuse that I'm going to talk about tomorrow. Despite this, I took a significant bite out of chapter 4-4. Instead of endless pages of stuff that need to be changed, it's now a bunch of pieces that need to be connected. And I got to talk about a "hank of rope," which made me happy.

Then I looked at chapter 6-2 (which, despite the numbering, comes after 4-4) after I got sick of working on 4-4. Then I remembered that 6-2 is the chapter with three separate walking montages. Seriously. They talk, life sucks, they walk, and then they do the same thing TWO MORE TIMES. It's 6000 words of horrific.

I also attended a local writing meeting, which made me want to get back on track again. It's shocking how much of a morale boost those things are. :)

And finally, I discovered that The Civil Wars' "Barton Hollow" reminds me of Kai and Eva (two of the protagonists) for some reason. The song's about criminals and my story isn't . . . but I think it's something to do with the duet and the idea of being a wanted person on the run. *shrug*

WIP Wednesday: Week 3

Oh look, there was actual progress this week!

Days Left to Deadline: 55
Hours Worked On: Oh crap . .  I forgot I was supposed to be paying attention to this. I have no idea. I worked on three of this week's seven days.
Morale: Sort of better or something. *thumbs up*

Chapters Edited: Like . . . a half of one (5/27 total)
Words Cut: Umm, I added 126 words (3,366 total)
Total Word Count: 100,445

Thoughts: I suspect that these stats I'm "collecting" are actually somewhat deceptive and useless. I may revamp them for next week. Any suggestions?

Anyway, actually edited some this week. Re-read old chapters to get back on track, fixed some sucky sentences in said chapters and highlighted things that needed a more in-depth fix. Shockingly enough, I like chapter 3 now. This is pretty much equivalent to hell freezing over.

After that, I worked on chapter 4-4 (all of my chapter numbers are screwed up right now, fyi), which is mostly a lot of re-writing from a different POV . . . which is strangely more obnoxious than it should be. Though, I guess it's a good thing that my characters don't think alike?

WIP Wednesday: Week 2

*sigh*

Hours Worked On: Nada
Days Left to Deadline: 62

Chapters Edited: 0 (5/27 total)
Words Cut: 0 (3,240 total)
Total Word Count: 100,319

Morale: Still hiding in a corner
Thoughts: In my defense, I have ambitions to actually work on my manuscript today. The program is even open now! Also, found a song that seems particularly inspirational, so that should probably help. Feel free to throw more imaginary fruit at me in the comments though.

WIP Wednesday: Week 1

Last Friday I made an announcement. In a meek and tiny font. It might have had something to do with a writing deadline. *shifty eyes* Either way, I figured I'd keep you guys updated on my progress. Or, you know, terrify myself into a comatose state. Or something.

Anyway. Let's get this over with.

Hours Worked On: Umm, none
Days Left to Deadline: 69

Chapters Edited: 0 (5/27 total)
Words Cut: 0 (3,240 total)
Total Word Count: 100,319

Morale: Hiding in a corner
Thoughts: Uhh, yeah. The most progress I made on anything in this last week would be, uhh, closing my Scrivener document? *ducks rotten fruit* I'd start listing excuses in my defense, but I already know what you guys are thinking: You have to make time to write, Sarah. Yeah, yeah. Shaddup. I'm working on it.

Another writing goal?

Writing goals are probably one of the most useful writerly things ever. Just look at what NaNoWriMo has done for those thousands of people who'd never written 1,000 words of fiction, let alone 50,000. If nothing else, writing goals help kick your butt into gear.

And I don't know about you, but right now I need that mentality.

Unlike last time, I'm not going to flaunt my goal in bolded, menacing typeface. Why? Frankly, I'm afraid of my goal, and right now I'm not confident that I can make it and retain my sanity at the same time. Also, despite my claims of knowing what I'm doing, most of my editing process has been discovering what methods don't work for me. Which is rather time consuming.

So here, in a meek, but hopeful voice:

I'm going to finish the revised draft of my manuscript by March 6th at 11:59 PM.

Eeep. Well. There we go. I'm gonna go cry in a corner now . . . but cheer me on, won't you?

Anyway, what about you? Do you have any writing or editing goals right now? Do you try to set goals that you know are achievable, or do you push yourself to the limit? Tell me in the comments.

Dear Writing Blog-o-Sphere

Dear Writing Blog-o-Sphere,

I think we have a problem.

It's not the kind of problem that's immediately apparent. I mean, 99% of your posts are positive and inspiring and interesting. It's the kind of problem that lurks beneath the words of those fantastic posts. See, the thing is, you have unrealistic expectations.

But it's not your fault. Not really.

The problem lies in speed and time. Naturally, if someone's writing days are going well, they're going to celebrate that success on the internet. They'll tell us all about how they drafted the book in a month and then edited it in two weeks. They'll talk about their deadlines and how they wrote two books last year and how driven they are.

On the other hand, drafting and editing nightmares are never discussed. For good reason, of course. On the off chance an agent visits their blog, well, no one wants to make a bad impression with all that whining.

But where does that put the writer who has been struggling with drafting or editing? Maybe they've been working on their book for years now . . . and with the state of the blog-o-sphere, there's a good chance that they feel alone in that.

It's not true of course. There really are people who work 40+ hours and can only write 2000 words a week. There are people who have needed to completely re-write their books, so the newest draft is only a shadow of the last one. There are people who've spent countless hours writing "useless" content and they're book are still not done.

Finishing is important. I can't deny that. And I'm definitely not dissing on the struggles that have been mentioned on the internet. But do we have to stress on success so much? Can't we somehow embrace the idea that it's okay to work on a book for more than a year? That writing is hard? That's okay to write 5+ books and still be struggling to get an agent or a book deal? That speed isn't everything?

I feel like I might be blowing this out of proportion . . . but I've seen people discouraged because they think they're wasting time and because they can't write something beautiful in six months. And that shouldn't be acceptable.

Thanks for hearing me out,
Sarah

How to (not) kill babies

"Kill off your darlings."

Common piece of writing advice there. So what does it really mean?

Well, sometimes when we write, we craft beautiful sentences. And not just sentences either, but beautiful paragraphs or scenes or ideas when everything seems perfect. I spent my entire college education referring to them as "babies," but internet seems to like the term "darlings" better.

However, the idea is the same. There a sentence/paragraph/scene/etc that you love unconditionally. It's the kind of sentence that makes it impossible to imagine a world where it isn't in your novel.

I'm starting to sound a bit melodramatic, I know, but that's how writers feel about their babies. We don't want to part with them.

And you might be wondering, why would you want to do that anyway? If the sentence/paragraph/scene/etc is so wonderful, why in the world would you delete it?

For several reasons. Maybe you have to rewrite a scene, and suddenly that one sentence doesn't mesh with the mood or the plot. Maybe your dramatic paragraph is just a giant blob of purple prose and needs to be parsed down. Or maybe the entire scene is one giant darling, but your characters are out-of-character. Either way, sometimes it needs to happen, and it's an incredibly difficult edit to accept.

So let me share a secret that'll making killing all of your babies 100% sweeter:

Don't delete them.

That's right. Don't completely kill them. Instead, copy your untouched paragraph into a separate document. Then go ahead and chop up the original draft to your heart's content. That way, there will always be a preserved copy of your darling. Maybe you'll want to go back to your original scene, or maybe you'll be able to use it in a different scene.

Either way, the stress and heartache of deleting your baby, will go away. It'll make writing easier when you don't have to agonize about how much you don't want to give that sentence/paragraph/scene/etc up.

So how do you feel about killing your babies, or rather, your darlings? Do you reluctantly accept that it needs to be done, or do you fight tooth and nail against The Man? Also, regarding the whole darlings vs. babies thing . . . have you ever encountered this terminology discrepancy, or am I just crazy? Tell me what you think in the comments!

Be gracious about getting critiqued

Since I talked about my CP hunt on Monday (which is going well, BTW), I figured I might as well keep with the theme.

So let me tell you a bit about creative writing workshops in college. The basic setup goes something like this: 1) you write a short story, 2) you share copies with everyone in your class, 3) you undergo a group critique session, and then, 4) you revise the story for your professor. We're going to focus on Step 3.

During that group critique session, your classmates surround you from every angle and they're cruel. Because they don't know you you or care about your feelings, so they're 100% willing to say that your characters are flat and that your plot is cliché--in those words too. And you're not allowed to say a word in your defense.

For good reason.

Because any writer's first instinct is to scream, "No. That's not true. I wrote it that way for a reason. You're just being picky. You just don't understand." And, of course, you're wrong. You're terribly, terribly wrong. Because they do understand.

I know it feels like your CPs don't know how much effort you put into your story, and that it's unfair how easily they can rip apart that effort. But there's nothing more beneficial to you than a critique partner.

Because they aren't crazy and they aren't attacking you. They're trying to make things better.

If a CP thinks there's a problem with your writing, there probably is. These are people that know about writing and stories, and you shouldn't disregard their opinion so quickly. Maybe you don't like or even agree with their critique, but you should at least think about the reasons behind what they've said. Because there is value there.

That being said, I've found that a good critique partner often tells you the things that you already know deep down in your secret heart. They nitpick at the messy little details you tried to slip under the rug. The parts where you tried to be lazy. They tell you the things that you don't want to tell yourself. The big, nasty things, like how you really should to toss out 10,000 words or re-write the entire second half of the story in a different POV. And these, really, are the kind of things that all writers need to hear.

So have you guys had any major experiences with critique partners? Are you good at taking rough criticism, or do you struggle with finding the value in it? What qualities do you think make up a particularly good critique? Tell me in the comments.

Writing research is weird

I'm a bit of a research dork.

My inner scientist is obsessed with things in my story sounding and being logical. So, if I run into a detail that just doesn't make sense, my brain freezes. There's no way for me to move on with the story unless I get everything to work perfectly.

Which has led to some interesting research sessions. What have I looked up lately?

• The marrow capacity of a human femur
• Burrowing frogs that live in Australia
• Fulgurite . . . aka: fossilized lightning
• Wick and lamp oil burn times
• The Kebira meteor creator in Libya desert

Yeah, it's an interesting collection. Won't deny it. Besides,

Or, I'll keep telling myself that.

So how do you guys feel about writing research? Love it or hate it? And what's the weirdest thing you've ever found yourself looking up? Give me some details in the comments!

Major edits are scary!

It's difficult making big edits to a manuscript.

For one thing, we all like to think that our first draft might be perfect. It's that rush of adrenaline that sweeps through your bones right as you type the last sentence--that irrational feeling that THIS manuscript is the one. Sure, it's only a rough draft, but it's the best thing you've ever written, so it must be amazing.

This, of course, is a lie. Any trace of arrogance and narcissism vanishes in about the first 30 seconds after you share the manuscript with someone else. Not to mention when you actually read over it for the first time. Because then everything is HORRIBLE and NEEDS to be repaired.

It's just, what if those major edits make your manuscript worse? Why isn't your first draft good enough? It seems decent, even if you know down in your deepest of hearts that it's not. There's potential for this story--you can feel it--but what if your edits just screw everything up beyond repair?

Well, it's just not going to happen. You're not going to kill your manuscript. Trust me. And if you're still concerned, make backup copies of your different drafts. That way you travel back in time if you mess everything up.

However, even if you do tackle the major edits, I won't lie. You might end up writing four versions of one chapter and then realize that the original really was perfect. Or, you might end up with the sixteenth version, the one that you never would've written without forcing yourself to change things it again and again. It's definitely not easy.

Don't let that scare you though. Think about your changes and then enact them with full discretion. But never back down from a major edit, especially when you know that it needs to be down, because otherwise your writing will suffer.

So how do you guys feel about implementing big edits? Does it make you nervous to change something that's spread out through the entire story? Or do you like performing surgery on your manuscript? Tell me in the comments.

Finding my editing process

Unlike many writers, I've never been very good at thinking things out on paper. What that really means is I don't like writing longhand. That's right, I have no nostalgia for ink flowing across paper and special writing pens and all those things that so many writers are attached to. I like my cold, clinical word processor. *pets computer*

The thing is, I can type around 70 WPM, but I can't handwrite nearly that fast. There's something to be said about being able to record my thoughts as quick as they come. And the actual writing bit? I like being able to read what I've written and then change it without messy scribbles and wasted paper. Cleanliness is awesome.

Word processors are flexible and they help me focus on what I'm supposed to be doing, whether it's big or little or spread out between four different chapters.

Now why am I telling you this? Because my supposed "editing process"--the one I outlined a few months ago--is completely wrong. Well, not the procrastination bit. That's super accurate. And really, it's not so much that my process was wrong. It was just wrong for me.

How so? Well, I realized how so many writers like to work with paper, and I somehow I convinced myself that it'd would work for me too.

The problem is, when I start editing on paper, I don't think about the rest of the story, just the lines in front of my eyes. I don't even think about the rest of the chapter, just the lines. So my lines become beautiful, but I don't notice that the pacing is bad, or the dialogue is out-of-character, or any of the really important things. My "editing" falls flat because my story lives in my head and somewhere in my fingertips. Not on paper.

So I'm starting over. This time I'm sticking to my word processor. Because while it might be lifeless and dead to you, it's not for me. And maybe I'll get some actual work done this time around.

But before I go, I just wanted to you guys to know: Sometimes it's hard to tell what's working and what isn't. Sometimes you don't realize there's a legitimate reason behind your problems. But that's not a bad thing. In all honesty, you probably needed to do things wrong to understand how to make them right.

Just don't worry, because you're not alone and you will figure it out. <3

So how do you guys feel about the editing process? Have you ever tried to force one method of editing to work for you? Or has everything been hunky-dory from the start? Tell me in the comments.