Slow progress is slow

[anthimeria]

This weekend I battened down the hatches and spent two twelve-hour periods working on Skywatch (all day Saturday and all day Sunday).  I processed line edits and re-read and outlined a hundred pages in the middle that need serious tension/stakes-raising added, then re-outlined them to figure out where to put said raised stakes, and then implemented the new scenes.

My to-do list this for this draft is still enormous, and mostly involves going through the rest of the book after the newly-added stakes-raising scenes and putting in mention of them, taking out scenes/phrases/bits that no longer make sense, and hoping like anything this solves the problem of people (myself and at least one reader so far) falling asleep halfway through the book.

AND THEN.  I will start ANOTHER draft, in which to experiment with ANOTHER major change suggested.  Which if I'm very, very lucky, I will get to do next weekend, assuming I can do everything in the above paragraph this week after work, which is something of a pipe dream given the way work has been HULK SMASH lately.

(By "lately" I mean "since July", but who's counting?)

I swear, every time I think I'm close to finished with Skywatch, someone points out a major flaw that will take a thousand spoons to fix and which requires fixing before I even think about putting together a query letter.

In the words of Mutant Enemy, GRR-ARGH!

Comments

[elenagleason.com]

Your dedication is fantastic. If people kept telling me over and over that my nonexistent novel needed to be overhauled, I would probably break down and either scrap the novel entirely or say, "SCREW IT, IT IS DONE NOW, EVEN THOUGH YOU DEFINITELY HAVE A POINT THERE." Best of luck!

[anthimeria]

I have been SO CLOSE TO THIS SO MANY TIMES, I can't even tell you. Especially this draft, with you and S both saying that there were huge swathes that needed major work in a story I thought was almost ready.

I may have spent what little time I didn't spend hermiting in my room bitching to my roommates this weekend.

Also, my dedication is partly just not having other options. The werewolf book is shelved, Moxie's nowhere near ready, and nothing else I have in the works is even as close to being workable as Moxie. It's a choice of working on Skywatch or working on something that's quantifiably years, instead of please-god-months, away from being query-worthy.

Not to say that giving over my weekend to the book was less impressive! *is totally humble* But there are factors.

Also, re: your dedication to editing: SUCCUBUS STORY.

[anthimeria]

Also, PS, if you have time, I may send you the chapters with the brand new stakes-raising scenes to read. Since they're, y'know, your fault. ;)

[elenagleason.com]

I would like that! Though I won't have time until this weekend. See comment on next entry re: job interview in KY.

P.S. I don't receive reply notifications here, since I don't actually have a DW account, so you can't count on me seeing any of your replies! I try to remember to check, since you usually do reply, but if there is anything important, you should probably e-mail. :)