Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Along for the Ride

Travel plans are falling into place, and I'm starting to get really excited about KillerCon at the end of August. You know you're still not a grown-up when the question "aisle or window seat?" gets you all giddy.

Window seat, please... :D

I am so excited about the prospect of meeting other horror writers and participating in workshops for the craft. There are going to be authors there to offer lots of helpful insight, and a dealer's room with all kinds of goodies for sale. Two contests, mixers and meet-and-greets, and three nights in Las Vegas! I mean... if that's not daydream fodder for the next few weeks, I don't know what is.

In other news, I'm about 20% of the way through the editing of the MS. I added a handy-dandy progress tracker to my sidebar, if any of y'all are interested.

I'm really hoping I can get this done in my original timeframe, but I just have no idea how long it's gonna take. I keep finding things that need to be rewritten, or added on to flesh out a concept. As I've said many times before, I'm just making this up as I go along, and it's kinda hard to gauge how fast this will go since I've never really done it before.

The work has, however, progressed famously since I realized I needed to scrap almost the entire first section of the novel (about 30 pages or so). I don't lament this at all; I look at the removed section as backstory that I will probably dip into later to beef up other parts of the book. It's good that it's written because it gives me a clear sense of exactly what happened, and that allows me to use foreshadowing and drop little hints here and there as to what's going on.

This is a fun process, but an exhausting one. So far, I definitely prefer composing to editing. But it's a necessary part of the writing process and I am throwing myself into it full-on like I have everything else.

I'm just happy I have you guys along for the ride. :)

16 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Hope you have a wonderful time, everyone getting togther swapping one's ideas sounds like fun to me.

Yvonne,

Karen Jones Gowen said...

I'm so excited for you! Hearing about everyone going & coming from these writer conferences makes me want to find one and go! Or maybe I just want a window seat.

Sophia said...

Your con excitement is palpable! Wish I had somewhere to go to refill the well, it needn't necessarily be as awesome as Las Vegas. Good luck with the continuing revisions, I admire your ruthless culling!
- Sophia.

ggray said...

You are progressing at an amazing rate, especially with all the changes. I
ll be very curious to see how different it reads now, but it seems like you have a very firm grip on it and I have a feeling it will need a lot less editing the further in you go.
I'm glad you're so hyped about the con. It should be an amazing experience.

Anne Gallagher said...

Keep it up with the editing. Sounds like you know what you're doing.

Candyland said...

Sounds like fun. Feel free to take me along with you:)

Sarah Ahiers said...

just reading about your excitement gets me all excited!

Jemi Fraser said...

I'm so excited for you - and a little jealous too :)

Laura S. said...

I usually prefer composing to editing, too! The first draft revision is the worst for me. Once that's finally over, revision goes along much better!

Good luck and have fun!

sarahjayne smythe said...

I'm so happy for you. I hope you have a great time at the conference and good luck luck with the revisions. :)

B. Miller said...

Thanks for all your awesome comments!

Karen - I'll save a seat for you!

Gail - I'm looking forward to you seeing the finished product! It's gone through a lot of changes but it's still recognizable.

PW - "sounds like" is right... Hee...

Candyland - Think you can fit in a suitcase??

Sarah - Yay! You should see if you could come to the steampunk con in Greenville in November. :D

Laura, Yvonne, Sophia and Jemi - thanks so much, guys!!

B. Miller said...

Thanks, SarahJayne!! :)

Hart Johnson said...

You really said editing was FUN? You're a NUT! It sounds like a promising attitude though, to making the most of us, which means you've got one up on most of us. I find editing much more akin to a root canal.

I hope you have a FABULOUS conference! it sounds GREAT! (and Las Vegas seems so fitting for a Horror Conference *snort* I love Vegas--mostly because cheesy can be so fun)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

What a positive attitude!
And I'd take aisle - I hate to fly.

Tamika: said...

Sounds like you havn't slowed down the pace at all since I've been gone! You've made wonderful progress~ congrats.

I can't wait to hear all the grueling details of your trip:)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I think you're going to have a fantastic time. :) Take lots of pictures!