It took me nine days, but I edited the first draft of George Florence!
One of my 2016 resolutions was to have a better routine with my writing, editing, reading, blogging, etc, etc.
January is and “editing” month for me. That means I don’t plan on writing anything new, though I do continue to blog and read throughout the month.
With that being said, I have specific days to blog and edit/write. This is so I don’t burn myself out with my novels or my blog. Alternating between the two allows me to have a break but still get stuff done.
This is something I’ve mentioned many times before, but I’ll say it again because it’s been working for me. Maybe a similar schedule will work for you as well.
On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays I write or edit. On Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays I works on my blogs.
I write and edit in the morning before work Monday through Wednesday. I take Saturdays to write as well because I don’t have work so I have more hours in the day. Plus I go to the bookstore to write. A change in environment is always a good thing and it gets me out of the house.
Since the first day of January was a Friday I started editing George Florence on January 2, a Saturday. Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday after that I edited George Florence every morning before work. On Saturday January 16, I ended up edited over 50 pages. It took me most of the day, but I finished the whole draft.
Now here’s the catch…
When I rewrote this novel in Lilah’s point of view, I never actually finished the novel. I had a lot of information to hold on to as well as tons of research to do.
I originally planned on having each case split into two novels. Then later I decided not to. Then I switched the point of view and didn’t know whether the book would be too long or too short. So I decided to see where it led me.
I ended the draft where I would have ended the “first book” if I was going to continue this particular plot and case through the second book. Though, I don’t think I want to drag it on that long.
So next month I plan on typing up the second draft. As I do, I’ll conduct some research, make notes, and then try to finish the novel. I don’t think the novel will be that much longer anyway. As of right now, unfinished, the novel stands at 233 pages. I may get up to 300 pages or so as I finish it. Then I’m sure I’ll cut some out during the next editing process.
If you’ve read my post Editing Goals, you’ll know I definitely have my work cut out for me next month.
I am going to put George Florence to rest until February comes along. I want to type it up with fresh eyes.
In the meantime, including today, there’s still seven editing days left of January. I started yesterday, which gave me eight days total to edit something else.
So yesterday I started editing Take Over. I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do with that novel just yet. It’s a standalone novel, so I hope to have it audience worthy by next Fall. I just don’t know if I’m going to query it to agents or maybe put it on Wattpad. Or maybe self-publish it. Who knows?
I guess we’ll have to see how it turns out.
How is your novel coming along?
