You've all seen how nostalgic I've been for biking in these cold months. Well, thank you mother nature, for giving me two glorious biking days in the middle of January. 45 suddenly feels like beach weather (I choose to ignore the cold air in my lungs going up the hill in prospect park and my nose running as I pedal up Union Street...)
And I want to thank the winter tree. The winter tree affords me a completely new perspective. When I rode the loop through Prospect Park yesterday, I saw everything through the bare branches. Don't get me wrong, I love the lushness of every tree come Spring, but to be able to see through all that, right into the park is a lovely thing. It's also quite fantastic that I only have a view of New York City from my apartment...in the winter. Because of the winter tree. That makes me smile.
Yesterday, I reached my goal of finishing the revisions for Part I of my novel. February 15th is my next deadline, the revisions for Part II. This is going to be a lot more difficult. Part I of my novel was a lot more polished. It came before the whole 'I've got to get this 1st draft over with or I'm going to jump out of a window' feeling. The pacing in Part II is quite wonky and there are some very obvious plot holes. It also requires a lot more new scenes than the Part I revisions did, so I'm back to the terrifying blank page.
My fingers are crossed that Part I has become a winter tree. That I was able to trim all the leaves back so I could see a little bit better for Part II. I guess I'm about to take a look and see...
I find it helpful to outline when revising. Actually, I outline from the beginning, but even if you aren't that kind of writer (and I know a lot of people aren't) you can create an outline after you've got the first draft done. By using different colored highlighters you can see where your subplots are going and if you need to add to one or take something out.
ReplyDeleteI also keep a document as I'm writing that's called "Things to add". Every time I realize I have a plot hole, or need to go back to mention some detail, I add it as another bullet point. Then when it's time to revise I at least have a road map instead of having to try to remember what's wrong with the book.
Thanks for visiting my blog. Good luck with your revisions.