Back to the Manuscript: Part Nine

I'm back at the grindstone, er, manuscript for the sixth rewrite.

One thing I did, thanks to a Write at Home.com meme posted in Facebook by Grammar Cop Cheryl Norman, was check to see how many times I used "went" rather than an action verb. Too many! I did a "find and replace" command to fix that problem.

As with any rewrite, you try to tighten dialogue, remove extraneous words, tweak characters, recheck timeline, and improve flow.

One thing I find helpful, as in Norman's posting, is to read articles, blogs, and books about writing to keep my mind focused on the mechanics as I go over the manuscript.

I like Cheryl's posts because they're informative, short, and to the point. I also regularly read blogs by Elizabeth Spann Craig, Martina Boone's Adventures in YA Publishing, and Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi's Writers Helping Writers. 

And I also read novels and nonfiction for pleasure, relaxation, and perhaps learn something from other writers.

Back to rewrite.

Until the next time...
  

Keeping the Writing Fun

While perusing some blogs I found an item I thought was pertinent to my life as a writer, and perhaps you may feel it as well.

Beth Fantaskey, an author of four young adult novels, wrote that her mantra for writing is that it has to be fun. She has to enjoy the creative process.

"These days, I write where my heart takes me, and if it ever starts to not be fun again, that’s the day I’ll walk away, knowing I've done my best and proud of the books on my shelf that bear my name," she wrote as a guest blogger in Adventures in YA Publishing (which, by the way, is one of my favorite websites for writers).

Unless you enjoy believing the weight of the world is on your shoulders as you painfully create your masterpiece to share with millions of readers, then maybe it's time to move on to something that you truly enjoy. Life is too short to dwell on pursuits that aren't satisfying or make us unhappy.

Being a writer can be unpleasant because it often involves solitude during the creative process, finding the time to write, and dealing with criticism and rejection. I'm sure we could come with a sizable list of things to add to the writer's woes.

And "fun" for a writer probably isn't something most folks would consider a barrel of laughs, such as finding just the right words to express a thought, making dialogue ring true, vividly describe settings, creating characters that come to life, and in the end, putting all the pieces (and much more) together to make a story.

I still enjoy doing those "fun" things. It's my creative escape from the everyday world that can be mundane, stifling, and oppressive.

Like Beth Fantaskey, I'll move on to other things when writing stops being fun.

Until the next time...