Tap, tap, tap

Holy heck, it’s been busy around these parts!  I set a goal for myself to finish the draft of the YA manuscript I’m working on by the end of February and I’m right on track.  Sadly, the pace of my writing has kept me away from blogging, but I’d say it’s a fair trade-off.

After our monthly SCBWI Schmooze earlier this month, my friend asked me how I’ve kept focused on moving forward with this story when the urge is always there to edit until things are perfect.  The only good answer I had is that it’s different for everyone.  Even for me my writing schedule and methods have changed from book to book.  This is the first book I’ve written with an outline in hand and it’s been incredibly helpful in keeping me on track.  The outline is more of a general guideline as to where things are going, but having this means I don’t get stuck as easily on figuring out what comes next.

After each chapter I write, I print the pages.  Not only is this a way to see progress, the hard copy is also a good back up in case of computer problems.  I read this printout before bed and I make revisions on the hard copy.  Then I read ahead on my outline to where I need to be in the story tomorrow.  This usually leads to brainstorming and hand writing a few sentences before I go to sleep.  I don’t know if this method would work for people who, say, actually go to bed at the same time as their significant others, but hey, it works for me.

You know how people say a sign of love is when that thing or person is the last thing you think about at night and the first thing you think of in the morning?  That’s me and my book.  Sick, I know.  So yeah, I’ve been living, breathing, and dreaming about this story.  I think the harder part for me will come with editing.  That’s the place to kill your (literary) babies.  All the sentences that don’t go and the plot points that don’t work.  We’ll see how it goes.

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