The Agenda

Today I finished my first round edits for Thinking of You. I don't feel like anything big has happened; I feel like this was just the easy part. However, I can't think of a part I will have to perform that is going to be hard. This gives me the thought that maybe I'm not doing this right. It doesn't feel wrong though so I'm going to continue on with my plans and hope it's just my anxiety talking.

As I went farther into the novel I was happy to find out that my two major concerns (tense switching and swearing) were not as prominent as at the beginning. This will make my job easier. There will be fewer parts I have to rewrite and fewer sentences I have to change. I will be able to start the first draft of A Shimmer in the Light (thinking about changing it to A Shimmer in the Rain because of the opening scene I have in mind) sooner.

Throughout January my agenda was to edit a chapter a day. This helped me keep on track. I'm going to use the same basic strategy for February to reach my goals. I have a week-by-week plan set up.

The Agenda

Week One: I bought this book that I want to read. It's called Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maas. I'm going to take a small break from editing and do so.

Week Two: I am going to apply my changes to the computerized copy of Thinking of You. For the whole process I have been using the hard copy I printed off and I need to transfer it to the computer.

Week Three: I am going to work on the parts I need to rewrite because I wrote them in present tense the first time.

Week Four: I am going to make a map of everything that happens so I can figure out if there are scenes I need to take out or add. I will also plan out A Shimmer in the Light to see if that helps me with missing scenes. I'm scared that Thinking of You is going to be too short but I don't feel as if anything is missing.

This is helping me with my goal of being a more organized writer as well as the goals listed. Here's to hoping I manage to reach them all in the given time periods.