Well, since I consider this last rewrite to be work, it's maybe not surprising that I did the procrastination thing big time yesterday. Big time. Found every excuse in the book not to get started.
Finally, around 9:00 PM, I started reading, drinking wine as I went along.
Three things became apparent.
1.) It is work.
2.) Wine doesn't help.
3.) It is completely and utterly necessary.
Along with finding tick-tacky errors I found one lulu of a time discrepancy. It was an easy fix, but it was the kind of thing that would totally throw a reader.
I only got about 40 pages of a 285 book in. I had earlier read the last 6 chapters backward, so I decided that counts too. So I've done about 80 pages of the book.
I just have to put my head down and keep going.
I read it out loud pretending that I was in a library standing in front of an audience. It helps to realize how it might sound to other people.
I have noticed one other problem. On a regular basis there is a dramatic moment, but I don't play them up. Now, I don't like melodrama, but I do think I might be missing some bets -- just a slower leadup, a bigger bang, and then a short aftermath would make those moments more effective.
Something I wouldn't have noticed before being finished and reading the narrative flow of it.
Much of the book flows very well, and there are a few slightly rougher spots. But overall, the first part of the book is deeper and more textured and developed. Hard to believe I could ever have thought the first versions of this book were ready for prime time.
The word flow is due to the book having been gone over so many times, I think.
I'm not going to be able to finish it today, I think. Which pushes it to Friday or Saturday. These deadlines are self-imposed but helpful to getting things done. But I have to remember they are arbitrary. A couple of extra days won't hurt, but an incompletely vetted book certainly would.
So another couple of days of reading out loud to myself, and it should be done.
Finally, around 9:00 PM, I started reading, drinking wine as I went along.
Three things became apparent.
1.) It is work.
2.) Wine doesn't help.
3.) It is completely and utterly necessary.
Along with finding tick-tacky errors I found one lulu of a time discrepancy. It was an easy fix, but it was the kind of thing that would totally throw a reader.
I only got about 40 pages of a 285 book in. I had earlier read the last 6 chapters backward, so I decided that counts too. So I've done about 80 pages of the book.
I just have to put my head down and keep going.
I read it out loud pretending that I was in a library standing in front of an audience. It helps to realize how it might sound to other people.
I have noticed one other problem. On a regular basis there is a dramatic moment, but I don't play them up. Now, I don't like melodrama, but I do think I might be missing some bets -- just a slower leadup, a bigger bang, and then a short aftermath would make those moments more effective.
Something I wouldn't have noticed before being finished and reading the narrative flow of it.
Much of the book flows very well, and there are a few slightly rougher spots. But overall, the first part of the book is deeper and more textured and developed. Hard to believe I could ever have thought the first versions of this book were ready for prime time.
The word flow is due to the book having been gone over so many times, I think.
I'm not going to be able to finish it today, I think. Which pushes it to Friday or Saturday. These deadlines are self-imposed but helpful to getting things done. But I have to remember they are arbitrary. A couple of extra days won't hurt, but an incompletely vetted book certainly would.
So another couple of days of reading out loud to myself, and it should be done.