I’m super excited about revising my manuscript again, and incorporating suggestions from my agent. But unlike my first 86 revisions, this time it’s not the changes that are daunting. This time, it’s finding the time to make those changes. Between my full-time journalism job and my part-time social media business, I no longer have entire […]
Does anyone else feel overwhelmed when they’re about to start a revision? I can deal with little changes. But big-picture changes, ones that will improve the story arc or theme, fixes that are arguably the most important — those feel daunting. Then again, what wouldn’t feel daunting when looking at a 273-page document? (About 84,000 […]
I welcomed something new into my life during the last year: italics. As a journalist, I never used them. There are no italics in news stories. Journalists have to figure out how to emphasize words in other ways. Or not emphasize at all. So when I began writing my book, italics weren’t in my toolbox. […]
Before I get to the meat of this post, some good news: I’m almost done* with my last round of revisions. That’s right, my LAST* round! I don’t want to say my manuscript will be complete by the end of the month, because we all know I never meet my self-imposed deadlines. I’m giving myself […]
I don’t usually post word counts, but several friends have asked recently how long my book will be. I just finished revising (and cutting) Parts I and II, and together they’re nearly 70,000 words. That’s 224 manuscript pages, double-spaced in Microsoft Word, Times New Roman font. Ideally, I’d like the manuscript to come in at […]
… is to finish revising! Between now and the New Year, I’ve got a lot going on. Not only will I be spending time with family and friends, next week also is the last week before my self-imposed revision deadline. That’s right: by January 1, I’m hoping to finish revising my book. So rather than […]
I just finished reading Stephen King’s On Writing: A memoir of the craft. Since I started my travel memoir nearly a year ago, I’ve read quite a few books on writing. So far this is my favorite. Why? Because King offers practical advice. Instead of emphasizing that writing is different for every writer, he tells […]
Now that I’m revising my travel memoir, I spend a lot of time looking at scenes and paragraphs that make me uncomfortable and asking myself: should I really include this? That’s because in my first draft, I included everything. I included details that were embarrassing, that I wouldn’t even want my mother to read. I […]
Now that I’ve finished a draft of my book, I need a new deadline. Or maybe I should call it a goal. Deadlines, in my mind, aren’t flexible, which is both a blessing and a curse. Missing deadlines makes me feel guilty — I am a journalist, after all — and I rarely meet the […]
You know what’s amazing? Suddenly, now that I’m officially in the revision stage, it feels good to cut words, scenes, even entire chapters from my book. Months ago, I lamented doing away with pieces of this travel memoir I had worked hard to create. But now that I’ve declared it my task to cut everything […]