Still Good

Well, after a short break, I'm back reading my own book again. Sixty-two pages in to my fifth or sixth read -- I've lost track -- and I still like it. I'm not sick of the characters (I love them, in fact) and the story still makes sense.

This last read is all about the flow of things. I'm not making a lot of corrections and no heavy edits. I'm trying to read it as if I were the average reader, picking the book up at the bookstore and giving the story a go.

I'm still tempted to redo the beginning, but after looking at it so many times at this point without coming up with a better intro, it must be OK, right? I'll keep thinking about it, but it still works for me, so we'll see.

Tonight I'm doing a little work that I couldn't finish at the office today, but I hope to wrap it up soon so I can read my book for a bit before going to bed. It's still all about fitting in a few minutes here and there when I can. Once I'm done, then I'll start sending queries to agents. Yikes! This little project's getting serious!

Taking a Break

My fingers are itching to open up my book so that I can give it one last read-through, but so far I'm resisting the urge. I'm trying to give myself about a week -- OK, at least five days -- off from the novel. I've learned that it's best if I give my mind a break and come back to the story with fresh eyes.

So, the last couple of nights I've been watching "Glee" (Who knew it was so good?) and reading "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner (It's growing on me.) and dusting. My house has suffered from my writing. My bathroom, kitchen and floors are getting scrubbed less often and there's a very thick layer of dust covering most surfaces. Now, I don't dust very often just because I despise it so much, but it's been a while now, even for me.

It's going to be my birthday on Saturday, so I want to get the dusting done before then (not likely, admittedly) so I don't have to worry about it on my birthday weekend (yes, I get a whole weekend). Then again, I'm about due for some rest and relaxation, aren't I? Maybe I'll just read a good book. Maybe it'll be my own ...

55 Pages!

I've finished entering all of the corrections from my manuscript into my Microsoft Word document and I've cut a total of 55 pages. 55 pages! It feels like 55 lbs. (I wish.)

So, now I'm going to take a break from the book after essentially reading it through twice. I'll finish reading a book I started a while ago and put on hold to edit my book and read two others that stole my attention away.

Yesterday, I finished reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I loved, loved, loved it, maybe even more than I loved "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. If you haven't read Guernsey, go out and buy it now. I thought the format written as letters between several people would annoy me, but it was a really interesting way to tell a story about World War II without making it a manly war story or a sappy love story. It made me laugh and cry and want to become a member of the Society, just so I could be around the characters in that book.

Before that, I read "One Day" by David Nicholls. I also loved that book, not as much as Guernsey, but it was a good book. They both, Guernsey especially, were easy reads. That's important when you're like me and frequently interrupted by a 4-year-old and a husband with questions related to the 4-year-old.

I'll read through my book one more time before I write a cover letter and send it to some agents. But, before I do that, I'm going to finish reading "Best Friends Forever" by Jennifer Weiner. She's long been one of my favorite chick-lit writers, but her first few books were more interesting than her last few books. I've been distracted from finishing Best Friends a couple of times now, but I need to clear my head a bit before I read my book one more time, so I'll give Weiner's book one more shot.

It's funny how I've been so much happier reading since I've stopped watching TV. Nothing there holds my interest as much as a good book anymore.

Every Little Moment

I've been using every little moment I can to edit my book and now I'm up to page 264 with only 61 more pages to update with changes written in the margins of my manuscript. I've made some good revisions and cut 50 pages.

The key has been taking every 20 minutes, half hour or hour that I can squeeze in to sit at the computer and get some work done. I even managed a couple of two-hour blocks last night, this morning and this afternoon. It's been a pleasant exercise recently too, because I'm editing some of my favorite chapters.

Another key is knowing when to back away from the computer. It's easy to get so wrapped up in my writing and editing that I might miss a fun game with my son or take advantage of my husband's willingness to keep Jack entertained and fed. I try to keep my ears opened so I can get some milk for our son or find the toy that he's missing. It's one of the reasons my office is next to the living room and kitchen. And my door is always open, for better or for worse.

For the most part, this weekend has been a balanced one. I've worked on my writing, spent time with family and friends, played with my son and talked with my husband. I even managed to do four loads of laundry and clean my bathroom. It's been a great weekend all around.

Two-Thirds and More Than 10 Percent

I'm on page 220 out of what's now a 330-page book and I've cut 45 pages so far. That's more than 10 percent of my original manuscript that's now gone.

I'll admit, some of those 45 pages aren't lost forever, just cut and pasted in a separate document, just in case I see a need for them later on.

Still, it's been fun to fall in love with certain parts of the book again, kill the parts that aren't necessary and edit the rest like crazy. I'm looking forward to being able to read the story without stopping constantly to make corrections.

Editing Progress

Thanks to the flu last weekend, a cold this weekend and a wonderful husband who's done a great job of keeping our son entertained so I can rest, I've gotten a lot of editing done during the past week. I'm more than halfway through the manuscript and I've cut 34 pages.

There aren't many multi-page sections left to cut, but deleting a few paragraphs at a time an shortening others has meant that pages have disappeared pretty quickly. I'm resisting the urge to make edits beyond those marked in pencil on my printed manuscript, but I'm looking forward to going back and reading from the beginning to work on consistency and determine what else can or should be cut.

Last weekend, I finished reading "One Day" by David Nicholls, which I loved. This weekend I started reading Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who Played With Fire." I liked the first book in his trilogy, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," but I don't have much patience right now for a book that takes a hundred pages or so to really convince me that I want to keep reading. I also have "Best Friends Forever" on my night stand, but it's not as good as Jennifer Weiner's other books. I like her first few books better than the last two I've read from her.

Now, off to bed (after I fold a load of laundry). I hope I sleep better tonight and feel better in the morning, so I can drag myself in to the office. Lots to do at my day job this week.

Nine Pages!

I'm excited about the growing number of pages that I've cut from my manuscript. I'm up to page 124 in the printed story and that puts me on page 115 in my edited document. More signs of progress!

Every now and then I make notes in the journal I carry in my purse about where I need to tighten things up when I read the edited version of the book. Of course, I'm editing of top of the handwritten notes in my manuscript as I type the fixes on the screen, so I'm cutting and tightening as I go anyway.

I can't wait to get to the end of this technical process so I can read the story again and smooth things out without making heavy edits (if that's even possible). I'm sure I'll never be 100 percent happy with it, but I'm hoping for at least 98 percent.