Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Finished

I've finally finished editing my first story. Took me six days in total. I took Sunday off because we had friends over for a roast dinner and ended up drinking too much wine - so on Monday I was good for nothing.

I discovered a few tricks to get me started every morning and a few to keep me going throughout the afternoon. One of them involves setting a timer for two hours. I won't take a break until it beeps.

My books also arrived from Amazon so I now have a TBR pile that threatens to keel over and suffocate me. (Dramatic, moi?) I've started on Underground by Haruki Murakami and so far it's an interesting read.

So onto the next story! I feel like I've learned an awful lot already. It was painful, but I now think it's proof that I'm taking it very seriously - I'm being very strict about what I leave in, and am not afraid to rewrite the story if I feel that it works better from another angle or in a different sequence. I know I will be thankful for my thoroughness and nitpicking later!

13 comments:

Alix said...

Yeah, well done! Hope the tricks keep working and the second story is easier to do.
Enjoy your books.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Congratulations, it sounds like you've been very busy with the writing. I really have to get stuck in to my re-write.

I love my tbr piles, most comforting.

Yvonne said...

Alix, thanks!

Debs, love your profile pic! My TBR pile keeps taunting me...it's at 16 books now, argghhh!

HelenMWalters said...

Oh well done. that sounds like amazing progress! Discipline ... where can I get some!?

Karen said...

Well done for finishing your edit :o)
Good idea about the timer, I might try that. I have to use one anyway for cooking, because otherwise I bung things in the oven, start typing and completely forget about them until the smell of burning brings me round!

Yvonne said...

Helen, I wish it was amazing progress but I really should have got it done earlier. But hey ho...

Karen I know what you mean, I lose track of everything once I start writing!

Angie said...

Well done on the editing progress. It's great that you're figuring out what works well for you. Enjoy your TBR pile, mine is threatening to topple as well!

Yvonne said...

Angie, thanks! I'm watching my TBR pile like a hawk!

Lane Mathias said...

Underground is the only Murakami I haven't read. Be interested to hear what you think.

Sounds like you're making good progress. May I borrow some of your discipline please? I set the timer but still get up for a wander before it goes off:-)

Yvonne said...

Lane, so far so good.

The discipline comes from pure guilt I think!

Anonymous said...

Yay for alarm clocks! That's such a good idea :-)

Hope you're enjoying Underground. It's a bit harrowing but it's interesting to see how people's memories of the same event can be quite different.

Yvonne said...

Jen, it is harrowing, especially when he visits the hospital...the whole situation was just so sad. But it's never depressing I feel.

Anonymous said...

No, not depressing. It feels like a strong testament to the people involved and what they went through. Murakami always strikes a very respectful note throughout.