I’m sorry it’s quiet on here at the moment. Due to some exciting news that I can’t talk about yet, I’m busy rewriting.
Now, I love rewriting but I always forget that I love it. I resist it. I try to do it too early (when the first draft is too fresh) to ‘get it over with’, as if it’s something to hold your nose and rush through, not a vital and exhilarating part of the work. That it is the work.
I end up futzing around at the sentence level, avoiding the Big Changes as if they will magically solve themselves if the dialogue is polished to a sparkling shine. Ah-hem.
I’m ready now, though. I’m properly excited about making this book better and, having had a couple of months working on other projects, I can see the story clearly. The things I was holding onto so tightly (despite the creeping realisation that they didn’t belong) just got chucked. Broken character? Gone! POV that ruined the pace? Deleted! Back-story that I needed for reasons I can no longer recall? Cut and cut and cut again.
Now I’ve got rid of the words that were wrong, I’m going to put some better ones in.
So, how do you all feel about rewriting? Love it? Loathe it? Any tips?
I do know one thing… I’m insanely grateful to be a writer in the digital age. Ah, my old friends cut, copy, and paste; how I love thee.