Slogging through more edits

By Heather Justesen

This month is Tristi's quarterly challenge month in which she challenges us all to set some writing goal (book in a month, edits, or anything else we choose) and then she posts her daily totals and cheers us on. I admit, I always set very high goals for myself--ones that are completely doable, if only I could get myself to stick to edits and not get distracted by other people's stories, email, Facebook and the like. Not so doable if I let myself get distracted.

This month my goal was all about edits. I have a book all but ready to submit, another I need to do a rewrite on before sending it to readers, and a third that needs one last proof before my editor gets to it for spring publication. This sounds like a lot, and I admit, I've found my book, "Blank Slate" needs more work than I originally thought. That coupled with distractions means there's no possibility I'll finish all three goals this month, but I know if I buckle down I could get close.

It funny how much I put off editing. When I'm in the middle of it, it's really not bad, and sometimes it even feels great--especially when I know the changes I'm making are really making a difference to the story. I started this edit with 256 pages of text, but after incorporating new scenes suggested in notes from several other writers (who are brilliant), it's now pushing 290--and I'm only on page 184 in my edits.

I seem to write all of my stories at about 300 pages, so I'm not concerned about that, but I do have a few minor scenes to add, and some that need to be fleshed out a bit more, which will lead to yet another edit (and I thought this would be the last one). The next one will be to cut stuff.

Knowing what to cut is an art I've really had to struggle with. In this case I probably won't be cutting scenes or whole storylines--I've got that pretty well established and it really looks pretty much the way it's going to be. My next pass will be to trim off the extra wordiness in my story. I tend to give a bit more backstory than necessary (at least in early versions). I say the same thing four times in a few chapters instead of just saying it once or twice with some lengthy space between. Also, it's amazing how many times you can take a long sentence and pare it back to a shorter one without loosing a bit of the meaning.

I listened to an episode of the Writing Excuses podcast a few months back where Brandon Sanderson talked about this very issue (sorry, I'm not sure which one it was, but it was probably in season three... but they are all well worth listening to). Essentially he said that setting a goal of how many words or pages you want to cut from your book (say 5 percent), and then going through and doing it line by line can be a great way to edit and tighten up your story so it flows better. My final edit for "The Ball's in Her Court" was a big trimming edit, thanks to a friend who pointed out all of the places where I was getting wordy, and my weekly critique group has helped point out spots where I'm too wordy too, so hopefully there won't be too many cuts in my future.

Yeah, whether I do that last edit or not probably won't affect whether my publisher chooses to print the book. It probably won't affect book sales greatly, but part of this writing thing is striving to produce a better book, to hone my craft more every day so that I can become the best writer possible. That means I don't have room for laziness. I have to keep working, and reworking until I either can't stand the book anymore, or I'm happy with it. That way when I send the final product into the editor I can do so with hopefully a tad less trepidation than I would otherwise.

Who am I kidding? I'll probably be a nervous wreck anyway.

Christmas Quiz

I was doing some research for a Christmas thing this week and thought I'd make it into a little quiz. I hope you have fun!

1. Two hundred years before the birth of Christ, the Druids used mistletoe to celebrate the coming of winter. What did they believe it did?

1. It had healing powers.
2. It warded off evil spirits.
3. It helped the winter to be less sever.

2. Where did the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe come from?

1. The red of the berries symbolizes love.
2. The Scandinavians associated mistletoe with their goddess of love, Frigga.
3. Eating the berries gives the euphoric feeling of being in love.

3. Poinsettias are native to what country?

1. England.
2. Mexico.
3. Italy.

4. In the 1800's, the poinsettia was believed to be symbolic of what?

1. The star of Bethlehem.
2. The mother, Mary.
3. The birth of Jesus Christ.

5. What country did the Christmas tree originate from?

1. France.
2. England.
3. Germany.

6. Where was St. Nicolas, the first Santa Clause, born?

1. Italy.
2. Turkey.
3. Belgium.

7. What is the belief behind the Yule Log?

1. It is believed to burn away the last year's evil.
2. It is believed to warm the Christ child when he comes.
3. It is believed to welcome all to it's warmth and beauty.

8. What were the first Christmas trees decorated with?

1. Candles.
2. Cookies and candies.
3. Flowers and fruit.

For the answers, click here! Hope this was fun for you! Merry Christmas!

Writing in 5 minutes

Several years ago I read a blog about writing. I don't remember who's blog or much that I read that day. (I know. It must have really been amazing!) But I do remember doing some writing exercisers. Now, I've never taken a creative writing class and any bit of writing I've mostly learned through trial and error. I also don't feel like I have a lot of time to do writing exercisers. So I was skeptical about this exercise. However, this one only takes 5 minutes! And after trying it, I was utterly amazed with myself!

So let me tell you a little about this exercise. I will show you two words, which you may look at for 30 seconds, and you sit and write anything that comes to mind at the first glance. You have five minutes to complete the assignment. It doesn't have to be a full story. Just start writing. Don't let your pencil (or fingers) come off the paper (or keyboard.) Try to write for a solid 5 minutes. Push yourself and see how much you can do in 5 minutes. You'll be amazed.

There are a couple of things, though. You need to use the first word shown you as the first word of your writing. The second word needs to appear in the first sentence.

So, are you read?

Get set...

(Remember you only have 30 seconds.)

Look...

Fire

&

Chair

Now write and let me know how it goes! Good luck and have fun!

If you want to do this again, go here and there's another set of words.

The Phone Call

The phone rang the other morning with the obnoxious ring that all phones have. Racing to answer it before the person hung up, I answered, slightly out of breath.
“Rachel? I just wanted to call and give you a heads up that you might need to get a substitute pianist for the choir on Sunday,” Sister Jones said on the other end. She sounded a little frantic. “Sister Baker’s daughter is on her way to the children’s hospital in Salt Lake and doesn’t know when they’ll be back.”
“Oh, no! What happened?”
“Emma fell off their horse a while back and they thought she just had the flu. But apparently she has some major internal problems with her organs and they took her to Salt Lake this morning.”
Now, I’m the choir director in my ward and we’re singing today. Fortunately the second councilor in the bishopric’s wife said she’d play and does a masterful job. But honestly, my first thought was not for my choir or the predicament I was in but for the Baker family.
The Bakers don’t have very much money and they have eight children. Sister Baker just had a bout of cancer and one of the boys has had cancer too. So this is not a family unaccustomed to trials. Still, my heart went out to poor little Emma who is not yet even four! I can only imagine how scared she must be – and her parents too.
About two weeks before this, my husband and I were getting ready for bed late on night when we heard the piercing sirens of an ambulance as it stopped across the street from our home. Knowing the 83 year-old grandmother who lived there had a severe heart attack the month before and had problems with fluid collecting on her lungs, we rushed out to see what was wrong. The medics wheeled her out on a stretcher and her sister and her worried children filed into the street. We feared the worst but her daughter said she would probably be okay. She wasn’t eating and had more fluid on her lungs. In fact, over the course of the last month, they have pumped about 48 pints of fluid from off her lungs. But she has signed the papers saying they aren’t allowed to do anything more to her to keep her alive. So it’s only a matter of time. And while the medics and firemen arrived and then helped her into the ambulance, we sat across the street, helplessly watching as they carried away the sweet lady who has been like a grandmother to us.
Now, I don’t tell you these stories to put you down, but I have been thinking a lot about the precariousness of life. It is so easy to take our health and family for granted. I wonder what I might miss if someone special were to suddenly not be here tomorrow. Would they have felt my love for them? Would they have understood the importance they were in my life? And would I always regret not doing things differently? It is amazing how little things can put my mind into certain thoughts. I hope these things make me a better person! And I hope we all will strive to let those closest to us know of our love for them!