Hi-ho. Hi-ho. It’s off to work we go.
Yep, it’s time to get back to the whole writing thing. The conference was fun and the cold that I managed to catch is mostly gone. I’ve nearly caught up on the mountain of wash and I finally got around to cleaning the kitty litter box. (yes, the life of a writer really is this glamorous.) In other words, it’s time to stop procrastinating and get back to editing.
I did hear back from my agent and she enjoyed reading Book 2, which is a plus. I think I’m just struggling from the second-book blues. For me, it’s the idea of “sure, your editor liked your first book, but can you really do it again?” My agent seems to think so (god bless her vampire-lovin’ heart).
After completing the first round of edits, I discovered that there are several words and/or phrases that I now absolutely hate. Mostly because I use them way too much. I’m sure it happens to you. You’re locked in an intense scene, you’re plunging through, oblivious to the world around, just trying to get everything out as fast as possible. Then you look back and you realize that you used the word “still” four times in a single paragraph. Yuck.
So, here is my list of top 5 words/phrases that I used too much in Book 2:
- for the moment/at the moment
- still
- only
- just
- quickly
Most of these have been words have been stripped out, leaving me feeling quite annoyed. I am now going back through to make sure all the motivations are clear within the book and to weave in a few more details here and there. Then, it’s off to my editor next week.
In the meantime, I’ve got another video. Are you sick of these yet? Sorry, it’s not a kitty video. I’m out of the cool animated ones. However, this one is really old, but it’s one of my all-time favorites. I remembered it following this past week’s Earth Day. Enjoy.
3 comments:
That was so good I had to watch it twice. (I think I'm always the last one to hear about things.)
Oh, I know what you mean about procrastinating. I haven't even dreamed of not writing for so long, about three weeks now. Ugh. Good luck and by the way I think you can do it again, and again, and again with impressing the agent that is.
Oh man, I hate those words that you seem to use over and over and over all the time! I know there are a few words and phrases that I use a lot, but I haven’t had any time to write anything in such a long time that I don’t remember what they are. But I do it in any kind of writing, even my school work, so when I turn in a paper I usually spend a good half hour to an hour picking out the words that I’ve used too much and coming up with alternatives.
Post a Comment