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I am finally approaching the end of my WIP (work in progress). For those of you with a score card, this is Draft #7. I have never done a novel in fewer than seven drafts. I sure do wish I could, but so far the slow and tedious route seems to work for me. I started this book in January, 2005. I had to take several long breaks away from it for school visit travel, and some family concerns.

I am a fluid writer, meaning that during the early drafts I go where the character wants to go. I don’t force myself to follow an outline. Outlines bore me, so I don’t use them, though I know a number of authors who can’t imagine working without one. I use the early drafts to get to know the characters and to focus on the voice of the narrator. Then I work on structure – what happens, and what happens next, and what happens next.

In this book, working with the structure of the novel has been a fascinating ride. I think I finally have the right course…. ask me in a couple days and I’ll know for sure. At this point I think I’ve written and thrown out nearly four hundred pages. It used to kill me to do that. I’d moan and gnash my teeth and tear out my hair and stomp my feet. I got over it. All of those pages were necessary to help me figure out who my MC (main character) is and what he wants. It does not matter how many pages you write. Anybody can write pages. What matters is that you select the right scenes, with the best balance of action, dialog, and narration, to unfold your story in the strongest way possible. If I could find a way to do that in one or two drafts, trust me – I would. But slow and steady seems to be my lot in life.

Once this draft is done, I’ll put it away for a few days. When I pull it back out, I will edit it for consistency issues (though I think I’ve already taken care of most of those) and language; making sure that I’ve described things well, and that the dialog doesn’t run on too absurdly long. Then I’ll send it to my editor and pace nervously (def. a challenge on crutches) for the verdict.

What other revision questions do you have?

There are men on the roof of our house. Men with shovels. Three stories off the ground.

Why?

Because there is two-and-a-half feet of snow on our roof and the temperature is going to skyrocket up into the twenties today…. and then we might get another 18 inches of snow. We need to de-snow the roof for two reasons: 1) so the roof doesn’t cave in, and 2) so the melt-off doesn’t back up under the shingles and drip through the ceiling and require major repair.

Last winter I was visiting up here and saw a grandmother shoveling off her roof. Granted, it was only a one-story ranch house, but still. She looked like she was in her mid-seventies. That’s the kind of spirit and spunk that I love about the people who live up here. Central NY is the best.

I tried to do too much yesterday. Duh. The mangled foot turned hot and swollen and began an unfortunate resemblance to a baseball bat with toes. My BH gently but firmly suggested I stay completely off my feet today. So I am working in bed, with a carafe of tea by my side. I feel like a princess… a princess with a bad foot. Stupid glass slippers, they always cause problems.

Be sure to wish sdn a Happy Birthday!!

A number of comments have been coming in today from students who were assigned to read this blog and comment on it. This is pretty cool and I appreciate it.

However, some of these comments have been fairly nasty. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is a free country and you can think or write whatever you want. But you should know this – I have set up this LJ so that anonymous comments are screened. That means that I have to read and approve of them before they can be seen by the rest of the world. I promise you this – if you write posts that are hateful or defamatory, I will not unscreen them. Save your energy. Get your own blog, if you want. If you really hate the assignment that much, then maybe you should discuss it with your teacher.

I know that sounds cranky, but my foot is killing me. I’m going to go read for a while.

Just plain ouch.

Because I’ve had malignant melanoma, doctors enjoy cutting out funny-looking spots on my skin. I don’t have a problem with this. I like being alive. It’s a habit I would like to continue for the fifty years or so. Plus, when they cut out the spots, it usually doesn’t hurt too much. Not a big deal, right?

Not a big deal until yesterday when they cut out a big spot on the bottom of my foot.

Wicked, wicked ouch. You don’t want all the details…. let’s just say that when a doctor approaches the sole of your foot with a scalpel and says the incision will only need two layers of stitches, you might want to run. I couldn’t run, of course, because by that time they had shot the foot full of novocaine and it wasn’t working very well. He sliced and diced, I bled, and then he sewed me up. I’m sure he did a great job, but ouch.

Right now it feels like a large wolf is gnawing through my foot. Walking anywhere? Hysterical laughter. My butt is parked today. Bathroom trips have to be planned out well in advance because I can travel only with crutches or on my rear end. This is good news for my revision, though. I am spending all day with the computer in my lap and my foot in the air.

The irony here? One of the characters in my WIP has an accident that leads to the bottom of her foot being sliced open, and stitches, and hobbling around of crutches. I stuck that scene in the book back in MAY, long before I knew this surgery was going to happen. That’s right sdn, my life is imitating my books…. again. Remind me not to ever make my characters have a car crash.

(In climate news, it got down to -12 degrees here last night. We’ve warmed up to a balmy 8 degrees in the sun right now.)

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Snow = revisions
Snow = leaping dog
Snow = afghan
Snow = Christmas music
Snow = haunting yearning window
Snow = alive
Snow = hearth fire
Snow = mittens
Snow = revisions