Writing About Writing

I’m sitting here, at the computer, with really no idea how I’d like to start writing about writing. There are things I’d like to say, and I could just say them, perhaps in a list, but that doesn’t feel right. I think I’ll just ramble on and see what happens.

Post NaNoWriMo work is underway. I have reread the first 106 pages of 158 that composed my NaNoWriMo, tentatively titled Fae Meds. For reference, this is Garamond, 12 point, double-spaced. I have several pages of notes that I took as I read, which are mostly composed of questions about the plot and instances where the writing is total crap. It seems like there’s a lot of the latter, but then what do you expect from 50,000+ words in 30 days?

I’ve been trying to spend at least a half hour each day reading and taking notes, which has become my UCF February Writing Challenge project (good luck to everyone else that's participating), and some days I do better at it than others. My immediate goal is to have finished rereading the entire text by the end of the week. I’m going on a trip tomorrow, and I could take it with me, but as I’m only doing carry on, I don’t want to bring an extra binder on the plane. Maybe I’ll take out the last 50 pages or so and just bring those with me, but then I’ve got books to read too. But I digress.

The rereading process has helped me to come up with some new ideas for the plot that I think will make the story stronger. This has also made a good chunk of what I originally wrote irrelevant, but maybe that’ll change once I get into the rewriting. There are also characters now that I have to really question their place in the story, but I’ll figure that out later too.

Once I’m done reading the story, then I’ll start on the rewrite. I know the first scene that I plan on working on, and that will hopefully get the ball rolling for everyone else. The rewriting process will also require some research, and there are some materials that I’ll need to pick up somewhere, namely maps of Milwaukee, a bus schedule, etc. There’s a book that I’ll probably go to from time to time called the Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were, that’s a fun reference for things fantastical.

I have a story that is done that I really need to find a market for. Does anyone know of a good place to send humorous stories of a slice of life type nature? It’s a little under 4,000 words, and based on a something that happened to one of my in-laws.

Then I have another story of about 7,500 words that’s getting to be five years old now that’s been through many revisions and just needs one more. I like the story as is, but the last couple times I submitted it, the readers said there was a certain scene that I should consider cutting. The scene’s not essential to the plot, and it is a little tacked on, so it could go.

I think that’s about it. For the long term, I hope to have Fae Meds done by the end of the year, but I won’t stress about it too much. I’ve got enough stress as it is.