Another Update --

It's that time, but first a plug. I know Liz Lyon. I met her at the Maui Writer's Conference and Cruise in 2004. She has a new book out: Manuscript Makeover. It is chock full of excellent advice on how to revise your manuscript.

The process of writing can be funny. Some people go all the way through a chapter or short story, then go back and revise. Others use revision as a way to get going so they can write the rest of the chapter. Some write the entire book before revising. Some write the book, and then start all over and write the book again. We writers sure can make a lot of work for ourselves.

I think I'm in the second category, kinda-sorta. I write the chapter, or most of it. I revise constantly. I add, I move things around, and I finally finish it. I send it off for feedback. Then I revise. Then I print it out and copy-edit the thing manually and add my revisions/changes. Then, finally, I print it out again and make copies for the writer's group. If it's Woodinville, it is probably a short story. If it is Phinney Ridge (though we meet at Northgate), it's probably 9-10 pages of a chapter. These latter are read aloud.

Later, much later, I go through it again, first on the computer, and then by hand with a printed copy. Then I collect it all in a copy that once again is sent off for the editorial review.

The members of your editorial review come in a variety of flavors. You must pick them carefully. You don't want "Gosh wow, that was the greatest thing I ever read!" That's nice to hear, but doesn't make you a better writer. You need someone to look at the overall thrust of the story, and you need someone to get into the nuts and bolts.

Look at Wingman. The original draft was terrible. I showed it to someone that I worked with, and he pointed out where I'd gone wrong. I rewrote, then rewrote again. This time it went to my own editorial team. Semi-colons, commas, spelling, split and unsplit infinitives, and ellipses later, I incorporated the changes I wanted. I sharpened the ending (it's subtle). THEN I finally sent it off to the editor/owner of the whole story cycle. He had things that I fixed. I read it to the B&N writer's group, and a couple of other things were fixed. I finally submitted it to Stories On Line. Since then I've made a few more changes to it, fixing minor things that had escaped every one's attention until it was available.

I've gotten almost as much feedback on Wingman as I did on Three Valleys - Sammi. Woof.

There's a lot of work involved in all of this. So it makes perfect sense that Firestar, which I thought was nearly done, is not.

I ran it by one of the editorial team. He pointed out that Corey is mostly an observer in the last two chapters. This is wrong. She has a problem to solve, and she has to solve it. That's what a protagonist does. So I cut scenes, I rewrote scenes, and I am rewriting the last bit of the book completely. That meant I had to rewrite earlier parts of the book, adding scenes, changing others. A lot of work.

However, it is coming together, albeit slowly. Part of Corey's problem is she knows how to beat the Idenux, but she has to convince others that her solution is the correct one. The Families are almost Medieval in their approach to things, and Corey has made some enemies. And she is a neophyte at the political aspects of command. She has to learn how to move and survive (and prosper) in the political environment of the Families where a lot of things are personal.

Then I have to set up the next book, Setosha. But where do I put K-303? That will be interesting.

Are there other things? Engage the Enemy More Closely is on hold. I got to chapter 4, and hit a wall (called Firestar). So I've been copy-editing Different World. I can see changes I need to make in the latter. I also saw where I was working myself into a box, and I think I've backed out from that approach.

In the meantime, Spiked! may have been bought! We'll see. Let's not jeopardize things by talking about it too much.

And after a prolonged absence (or at least it felt that way), I've returned to the world of The Construct. More on that later.

More on everything later.