I am on an editing binge. Can one binge on editing? I am.
Luckily for you, I just finished rereading Hellbound for the 100th time, and I need a quick break before I dive in for another go. That means you get another blog post from me! By the way, a lot of people are new here, which means you might not know anything about Hellbound. Oh no! Don’t worry, you can check out this post and this one for a sneak preview. The book no longer reads anything like that, of course, due to major editing. You’ll have to take my word for it, but the prologue isn’t nearly so contrived and…I don’t know… kitschy anymore. I’d post the new version but I don’t know if editors would like me doing that, so…sorry. You’ll still get an idea of the premise and my writing style. (Please forgive any typos or errors you find! By now I have almost definitely caught and fixed them!)
Oh, one more link. You can find out all about Hellbound (the premise, the reviews from the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, etc.) on my website. Click here for easy access to that page.
On to fun thing number two: This article about Grammar and our misconceptions about it. Thanks to my mother for sending that one my way. Do read it. It’s definitely interesting for grammar nuts and it even relates back to one of my earlier posts.
Don’t hate me for pushing all these links on you. I do it out of love.
Fun thing number three! During this editing binge of mine, I have found myself sitting for long periods of time with my eyes glued to a computer screen. If you don’t find yourself particularly amenable to this idea, well…neither am I. So here’s my advice to you: Buy a hula hoop and/or a jumprope. I bought myself a hula hoop just the other day, and it has been a lifesaver. Though it did lead to me feeling super embarrassed in front of the saleslady at the toy store. She, of course, asked me if it was an Easter present for someone (read: some child under the age of eight). I could have told her it was for me. But that would have been honest and also embarrassing. So I awkwardly grunted the response, “Passover.” To which she said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just don’t know much about that.” And I told her, “It’s okay. Passover isn’t usually a holiday that you buy presents for, but I have young cousins.” Which was all technically true.
The reason I recommend children’s toys is, well…they’re toys. They are meant to be fun and distracting. The best thing about hula hoops and jump ropes is that they are toys that make you exercise a bit. This helps get the blood flowing, is a healthier choice than sitting for hours without moving, and best of all they require just enough concentration to not allow you to think about writing for a few blissful moments! Boy that was a long sentence!
Fun thing number four! Some numbers! Word count, to be more specific. I am going to give you three word counts. The first is from one of my very first drafts of Hellbound. The second is from a major editing session I did right before my agent sent my book out to editors. The third is from what I finished doing just now, at the request of a person. (I really can’t disclose that much about what’s going on right now.) Anyway, here they are:
First draft: 55,874 words
Second draft: 70,485 words
Third draft: 83,624 words
The reason I’m telling you about these is because of the stigma that is associated with editing. The word “editing” calls to mind (for me at least) the idea of cutting the book down, making it shorter, etc. But, as you can see, years of “editing” Hellbound have caused the book to expand. It added nearly 30,000 words, in fact. That’s about forty-five pages on Word, single spaced, give or take (I skip to a new page every time I start a new chapter, so there is some amount of blank space there). Nifty, huh?
Okay, now I am done.
OH! I forgot to add one last fun thing. I will put it in as my comic for today, as it is sort of a comic. I was talking with a friend about how much you grow to hate your own books and I drew a graph depicting that:
I told my friend that I was somewhere at the lower end of the enjoyment scale, but he just laughed and said “You wish,” and then told me I was somewhere just to the right of the peak. Siiiigh. Such is my life.
Word of the Day: Amenable (adj) – ready or willing to answer, act, agree, or yield; open to influence, persuasion, or advice; agreeable; submissive; tractable
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