Thursday, July 29, 2010

2nd draft complete

...

Another reason to celebrate! 

I finished the second draft of my manuscript today.  What the heck - you say?

The first draft is the one where the story is born but the writing sucks.  So for the second, I begin with a hard copy (on paper), sit down, read it from beginning to end and make a gazillion notes in ugly green ink (fine point sharpies are fabulous for this kind of scribbling).  

I discovered funny stuff like Wesley's hair and eye color changing between chapters,  Cassandra walking out of a room she wasn't in, a cat with two names and person who must have three hands. oops. 

Of course there were the usual gramatical and spelling errors, and the words that suddenly repeat themselves over and over and over again.

Once the work is done on the hard copy, it takes a few days to update the manuscript on the computer. (and mine is overheating and shutting down these days which scares me spitless.)

I finished that portion today and printed another hard copy.  This one, I won't look at for a few days so that my 'eyes' are fresh.  Hopefully I'll sit down and read it through one day next week.   This time I'll have a red pen in hand, getting ready for the 3rd draft!

off now to celebrate!  ...going to the bookstore to by the latest new one from my top five favorite authors,  Christine Feehan.

4 comments:

  1. That's one of the ways I celebrate, too!

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  2. Katt,
    I feel for you. I'm working on the first edit and boy are there mistakes. Fortunately they are easy to fix.
    BTW-how does one over come being scared 'spitless'.

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  3. Hey Lindsay,
    Scared spitless? Cure is chocolate milk and editing one hour at a time... save, email ms to myself and my hubby's computer for backup. Then I'd shut my computer down for a half hour to let it cool down.
    Ha ha, for a change I'm getting my housekeeping chores done because I'm forced away from the computer.
    REALLY enjoying reading now.

    Taryn, I've started using books as rewards to look forward to and I love it!
    1st draft reward:
    Janet Evanovich - Sizzling Sixteen.
    Brenda Novak's White Heat
    2nd draft:
    Christine Feehan's Water Bound
    3rd draft:
    not sure yet.

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  4. Reward is always good.
    Me-a glass of a nice wine or Starbucks

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