Last Thursday I typed The End at the end of my first draft of After the Fall, then Friday I added a scene that helped wrap up the climax -- totaling another 1300 words -- then I spent all day Saturday doing a "quick" read-through so it would be coherent for my beta reader. Thirteen hours and another 800 words later, I sent it off.
At 88,500 words, this time I really mean The End.
During my marathon reading/editing session I kept having that strange sensation that while I knew I wrote what I was reading, it didn't feel like I wrote it. But in a good way. There were a few loose ends I needed to fix (hence the additional 800 words) but for the most part everything seemed to mesh. And I didn't even hate the final page. (I usually hate my endings.)
My plan is to give myself a break from After the Fall and concentrate on getting better with a couple web design programs and continuing my job search. And doing another round of edits in The Other Side. Have I mentioned that? A trusted friend and published author suggested that the voice wasn't quite there, that it sounded a little too much like me and not enough like a nineteen-year old Mexican man, so I'm going to go through it one more time. Then go back to querying.
So how was your weekend?
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23 comments:
I'm impressed! Great word count. And I hope TOS advice pans out.
Will you do NaNo this year?
Funny, you don't look like a 19 y.o. teenage Mexican boy. Must be the internet messing with your picture.
good luck with the betas.
Congratulations, Melanie! I'm particularly impressed with how you take advise. My writing partner's son is taking a screen writing course, and read the first part of our movie, and gave advise. Instead of listening, we read his e mail, looked at each other, and said, "Oh, shut up!" I wouldn't call that ultra receptive, would you?
Janna, I've decided not to because I'll be editing two books and as of right now, I don't have an idea for book 3. But who knows what will happen in the next couple weeks... Are you?
Allen, I think that's my problem.
Robin, I got the advice several weeks ago and only NOW am I okay with it. I didn't mention it for awhile. So while, yeah, I'm taking the advice, I wouldn't say I was THAT good with it. :P
I wondered. And I'm glad you're not doing NaNo - you'd just make us underachievers look even worse! :P
Part of me thinks I should, but I still don't think I could. Maybe - this thought just came to me - if I set my own goal of finishing my current WIP. That's 30-40k. Yes, I'll just try that. Good idea!
Janna, that's a good idea. I'm hoping all the talk will help me think of an idea. Last year at this time I didn't have an idea yet, and now I have a whole book!
And you all aren't underachievers -- I have tons of free time, remember?
Congratulations! Have fun sounding like a 19 yr. old man. Don't think I could pull that off, though I think I do young children well. Not sure what that means. lol
I'm impressed too. I just sent half my ms to my betas - because I made so many changes I've asked for feedback as I work on the second half -- and because I know it so well I can't see the details anymore.
The last time I read it I thought the whole thing was crap.
Not a good feeling.
Sounds good! I love the whole "did I really write this?" feeling when reading something back. Seeing something as a whole (even when rough) is a great feeling. :-)
As for my weekend - I submitted my novella to a few more publishers, planned a little of my new WIP and talked to my sweetie. T'was a good weekend. :D
Adam
Edie, apparently I don't pull it off either... I'll probably start that in another week. I need a little time off.
Amy, I hope you get good news from your betas. I'm at that point with The Other Side and I really don't want to look at it right now. At least I'm excited about After the Fall!
Adam, that's totally it -- seeing it as a whole. I'd actually forgotten a lot of the details and was able to read it and look forward to what came next. Sadly, I don't think the next read-through will be the same.
Good luck with the novella, and I'm glad you talked to your sweetie. :)
Oh no, really? But I wannnnt you to do NaNo! It won't be fun without you! Aw man, I'm bummed now! Are you sure?
I am cringing through my latest. I'm near the end, and writing bits that must be written given my story, but the whole time I'm shaking my head and going, "Oh, God, how did I get myself in this mess? This is a disaster! Please let it be over soon!"
What can I do? I'll do anything to lighten your load so you can do NaNo... seriously, LOL! I need NaNo energy big time this year. :-)
Woo Hoo- Go Melanie! Awesome job. You're leaving me in the dust girl :) Glad to hear the editing/reading went well. That is a great thing, that you can read it like it was someone else's.
Good luck with the voice issue in The Other Side :) I'm sure it's great.
Natasha, did you even finish last year? I don't ask to give you a hard time, I'm just wondering. All I remember is the majority of my writing friends bailed halfway through and I didn't have anyone to motivate me anymore.
Thanks Erica. I'm not really looking forward to more work on The Other Side.
I did! And I was there cheering you on, wasn't I? Remember, I thought I didn't, though. I was writing in SuperNotecard, so I stayed up the last 24 hours and gave up and went to bed at what I thought was 48K.
The next morning, I woke up, outputted it to Word, and it was like 51K or something, LOL. It was anti-climactic, because even though I technically "won," I knew, inside, that I'd GIVEN UP.
So I didn't celebrate much. :-)
Okay, I take that back then. The majority of my buddies didn't get past 10k though, and that made it less fun for me.
/pout
Yay for the end! And as always, word count envy. :)
No, no envy!
Wow, you've been busy! I've been in the revision trenches too, so I totally get it.
Congrats on getting things tied up--and good luck with sounding like a Mexican man! LOL!
And it's so true about the salt. Lots and lots of salt.
Good luck with the edits and let me know if you need any design books. Mr. Turkey has a few.
It was ok I guess. I've had better weekends, and I've had worse. But hooray for finishing...hope you get awesome beta feedback!
Elana, when you put it THAT way... lol! And I'm glad the salt comment made sense. After I wrote that I wasn't so sure.
JLC, I will certainly keep that in mind!
Colby, I hope everything is okay. :)
A huge congrats on reaching The End (as I said I would on Twitter :P)
Thanks Benjamin. :)
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