I have been editing my NaNoWriMo novel the past couple of days, and I have the big papercut to prove it (when did they start making file folders out of razor blades, I ask you?). Parts of it are not bad at all. I’m glad I waited so long before picking it back up, it really is letting me look at it with an unbiased eye. On a scale of 1-10 I’d say right now I’m at about a 5 for cutting out stuff that I think just pads it. That’s the worst thing – cutting stuff until suddenly 130 pages is down to like 50, and you know that it’s not really a novel any more and requires lots of fresh writing. Oh well, it’s part of the process. Right now I can’t picture myself writing new stuff for it, but I know I will have to, it’s not novel lenght to begin with. But maybe after this first pass I’ll make the first chapter available. Right now the story flows, and I knew very soon I’m going to hit the point where my plot took a left at the lights, and I’m going to have to decide which one works better and rewrite the other. See, if I hadn’t been trying to cram out 50,000 words, I would have done that THEN, not now.
On a related note (which is maybe what got me to pick it up again?) I’ve been reading a book published by a relatively new company, and the books I’ve seen (in CVS of all places) seem to be comic novels about being a woman today. The publisher is Red Dress Ink (TM) and the one I’m reading right now is Loose Screws by Karen Templeton. I’m not that far into it, but it starts with a thirtysomething woman being left at the alter. Check out the website, there’s lots of good stuff there. And I think my novel, if it’s ever finished, would be perfect for these guys. So I’m keeping an eye on them.
