Daily Writing Journal: show me your desk & Novel editing progress update

So I finally cleared my desk. The dark spots are from pencil and sketching at my desk, so it probably needs a good scrub but I couldn't find my duster.

I cleared my desk to start on my next lesson of editing which I didn't do because I thought it was busy work. Yes, it seems out of all the lessons the last ones have been rather disappointing from my point of view. It is probably very good for some but I find it a lot of busy work of stripping something to rebuild it again. However I guess it's a valid method but not for me. Week ten of editing and I haven't done much.

The course focuses on story structure which I already have. So I'm holding out for lesson 12 where I deal with plots. And if that doesn't work then it will probably from lessons 15. However, I'm definitely looking forward to lesson eighteen onwards when I get the real deal for myself.

However because I've been disappointed for the last few weeks probably I've being considering other projects and working on what they call a 'reader's magnet' but mostly something for my newsletter sign-ups.

So 'I'd gone back to basics to write a new romance, and I realised what was wrong with my present one Leyton and Angelica -why I was having problems fixing it. So now I know what's wrong, I need to find a way to correct it.

So while I wait for the parts of the course I signed up for. You know the parts that made me think, yes, the sounds good. I'll work on the other bits.

If you do read my blog, you'll have seen my goals. Well apart for getting this one ready for publication, I also want to write two short stories - maybe longer about 12k words each so novella length. We'll see.

Comments

Had coffee with a fellow writer, went to an exhibition on West Africa: Word, Symbol, Song at the British Library.

There was a massive Disney Christmas tree at St Pancras Station. I thought I'd start with that picture. Implemented Accounting Guru Genius (AGG) method this morning. I mentioned yesterdays she showed me her way of planning. Well it's kinda like project management critical path and working back but in AGG's way. Well the results where what I sort of knew but it's official. I do too much. I've got so much on that I have make very slow progress with anything then end up procrastinating. So I really need to learn and get this planning and time management method under my belt. The only reason is that it's kinda the only thing I actually got. When AGG first did it, I was amazed. It was so impressive. I kinda forgot about it but it's coming up to the end of the year, and I've made great progress with some goals and projects but others are still hanging. Anyway after putting in all my hours I realised I only had a certain amount of free time. Not a...

The Scale (Martha's Way 1) by Mika Jolie

This is one of the of the best romances I've read in a LONG TIME. I loved it! It's brilliant and even writing a review will not give it justice, but I'll try. Just get it because it's that good, positive and uplifting with a good ending. It’s also funny at times. About the story Most women (or me) can all relate to Minka, the main female character, who like most of us, defines herself by her flaws/issues - a few pounds overweight, insecurity about her body, confidence issues (which thanks goodness doesn't stop her from jumping into bed with Jason) and loves her glass of wine with a nice dessert, and likes to feel sorry for herself at times. And she is supposedly in love with an old college crush - the one she thinks that got away (you’ll need to read the book for more details). So we can all relate to her in one way or another, including her stubbornness in clinging to those issues and using them as an excuse not to get on with her life or even make the way...

Problems with revising my novel and adopting the Chuck Wendig Plan of how to revise your novel.

So I'm still struggling with editing my novel. I took some time out to have a break doing other things. One of them was moaning about editing on this blog and other was looking at ways to tell the story. Now I realise the problem with my story is I have nothing to say. It's as simple as that. I don't really have anything to say give I've completed a novel. To write something you must have something to say - well I don't really. So there lies the problem. You can only revise and edit something if you have an aim in mind. All I want is just to complete the novel which I have. So maybe now I just have to figure what the novel is about. So I discovered Chuck Wendig a novelist and games designer ( Terrible Minds blog ) who swears like a trooper in his blog however has given freely valid and great advice on how to edit a novel. His post called How To Karate Your Novel And Edit That Motherfucker Hard: A No-Foolin’ Fix-That-Shit Editing Plan To Finish The Goddamn Jo...

Anna Aden Writes

Search This Blog