I started to weed around my front flowerbeds this morning, but with my pale complexion, I could only stay out there for about ten minutes without the risk of becoming “Lobster Girl”. With all the rain we’ve been having, my yard has become a jungle, but a lot can be done in a little bit of time.
I’m not a dedicated gardener, I’ve NEVER lived in a house that didn’t have some clutter, I HATE doing housework, and I consider ANY free time as precious. When I tackle a project, be it at work or at home, I tend to get overwhelmed if I look at the big picture. I have to break things up into steps, or use the clock and only devote a certain percentage of my time.
I write like I garden. I tend to edit chapters as I go. Sure, I’ve heard that it’s best to write the entire story and THEN go back and edit, but I can’t seem to follow that advice. I’ve learned that it’s too overwhelming for me to try to edit an entire story all at once. It takes the fun out of writing.
The story I’m finishing up was originally written all the way through, and silly me, I thought all I’d need to do is go back and edit it. WRONG! It was terrible! The story’s voice in the beginning didn’t match the ending. There were forgotten plot holes big enough to throw a house into. I almost had to start from scratch and rewrite the entire thing. This time, I’ve been going at it slowly, one Juli-step at a time. I’ve never taken a creative writing class before, so for those who know about such things, you have my permission to shake your heads at me. It’s OK, really it is. This time around, I write a chapter, edit it the best I can, and then go on to the next one. When that chapter’s done, I edit it PLUS what’s been completed as a whole. I ask myself questions. Does the story still flow? Am I still working within the parameters I’ve already established? Did I put enough imagery into my story without bogging it down? I don’t know if this is right for everyone, but it’s right for me, and it really doesn’t take me that long. I’m almost finished playing with Chapter 18. I probably won’t reread ALL the way from the beginning, but I’ll at least start from Chapter 16, and make sure those three chapters flow together and make sense.
Ten minutes here, ten minutes there…small chunks of time are all I have to get stuff done.
JH
These photos are all from my yard. Yes they are random, but I had fun playing with my camera. I took them this morning before the sun got too bright.
JULI HOFFMAN 
LOVE the photos! so pretty!
Most writers will throw things at me, but I am not a huge fan of all the Creative writing classes. I say do what works for you and pooh on “it has to be done like this”. They used to make us write outlines in school, something i have never managed to do because once I outline it there’s nothing to discover, so who cares? I used to have to write the story, then go back and write the outline. It was such a time waster.
I edit as I write, then reread the chapter as I finish them and do editing, then read the whole book over and do editing, then print the book out on paper and do editing, then order the proof and do the last round of editing on that… but I could keep rewriting the same book forever if I’d let myself.
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Thanks for that! I saw on one of your older posts a picture one of your proofs that had been “bloodied” by notes. I thought to myself, “What a great idea!” I’m SURE you see all sorts of things you might have missed once it’s in book form. I said something about that to my hubby and he crindged at the idea of me getting my first poof with the intension of marking it up! Then again, he can read the same book over and over and all his books look like brand new, while only the ones I didn’t like are in this good of shape.
As far as outlines go, all I remember is being terrible at making them when I was in high school. I wasn’t detailed enough. Blah! Back then, I was writing 5-8 paragrah papers. How detailed do you really need to be to write something as short as that? Introduction, a handful of paragraphs, and a conclution. Those papers were so BORING! Talk about ruining a kid’s creativity. I blame my high school/jr high years for killing my love of writing. It took me close to twenty years to forget what I learned in school.
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