Monday, September 3, 2007

Mmmmm.... Brain Mush

Yes, after many hours of working on my revisions, it feels as if my brain has been reduced to a soggy, mushy consistency that bears a striking resemblance to oatmeal. The edits are coming along. I was trapped in one chapter for a few hours today, not that I was surprised. I knew it was going to be a rough chapter. It's not that it needed heavy revisions. Actually, the edits were very light, but needed a strangely delicate touch. This meant me tweaking a few bits of conversation then going back, rereading and tweaking again. Somehow, all of my editor's comments had to be addressed in this one chapter, compared to other chapters where it might be one or two items. It gave me a whole new respect for tightrope walkers.

So far, I've completed two full chapters today and now I am writing a completely new chapter, which I am excited about. It gives me a chance to introduce two new characters and cool fight scene, resulting in a new shift in the book. I would like to finish that chapter today, but it all depends on how much more writing I can squeeze out of my poor brain tonight. As a result, I am shifting from laptop to legal pad. I still write on both -- yes, I know, I am still in the dark ages with paper. But for me, paper represents an interesting comfort zone. I started writing using paper exclusively and I will frequently fall back to paper when I am either stuck on a scene or playing with something new. In fact, when the first words of a new novel appear, they are always on paper first. With the new chapter, I'm not stuck, but I am hoping the change in medium will keep me fresh and allow me to squeeze a little more writing time.

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