Today I found three things to change in the first chapter of Sticky Note Empire. Two were improvements that the book could have managed without (but are better with the changes) and one was an actual error, and not an error that I added in on the last pass. (I’m great at doing that.) Maybe it’s all right that I’m not quite done with the novel yet. Getting close though. I often read several chapters without finding anything that would sound better if I changed it. Unless, of course, I’m in a picky mood. Then I could find things to change in anyone’s writing.
Getting close to having Overbooked done with the radical cutting of words I tend to overuse. Which is good, because at one point this week, I meant to be editing Overbooked, but I ended up in the Sticky Note Empire file, and cut two uses of ‘too much.’ Now, I need to make sure the sentences before and after my cuts still sound all right. I don’t worry about that with Overbooked, as I’m on an early pass through the book. But with Sticky, I’m almost done, so now is not the time to be deleting words or phrases throughout the book.
And, sometimes, too much is just right.
With an entire weekend to do what I wanted, I prearranged a couple of social events. I volunteered to lead a session on Editing at the monthly group meeting of writers in the area (even though no one believes me when I say editing is fun.) And I arranged for a few friends to come over. It was originally a potluck, but to simplify things we brought in Thai food. We talked and played cards.
In between those events, I intended to cycle through a number of things that I wanted to get done. I could have come up with a long todo list, and felt bad if I didn’t get to things. But I wasn’t looking to make myself feel bad, just to ensure that if I was at loose ends, I could do something that I wanted to get done.
- Organize published writing
- Organize pictures and backups
- Edit Overbooked
- Edit Sticky Note Empire
- Wash sheets (kids won’t be home for a while, so no rush.)
- Organize clothes closet
- Exercise – mainly walk/bike, but maybe ski
- Sort food – what to use up
- Contact potential Beta readers for Sticky Note Empire
- Format Sticky Note Empire and cover (for printing for some beta readers)
Since I find editing fun, and I can combine it with getting some exercise by either walking around the house (it was too cold to walk outside), or biking on the exercise bike, I started with editing Sticky Note Empire. Then I decided to draft a blog post. Then reformat the list of things to cycle through as a table. Now that wasn’t on the list, but it was fun to fiddle with it.
I made progress on long-term projects like organizing pictures and writing, so much that I’m thinking of cycling through the list again this weekend.