Technically speaking, the title sounds kind of negative, but we’ll pretend it also means, “I rocked.” It is also 2 a.m. and that is the sassiest title my brain can come up with. But the point of this post is…
I just finished THE SPANISH EXILE revisions for the (I have lost track of how many) nth time. What, 5th, 6th? Anyhoo….Yay! My oldest daughter asked me today, with a confused look, hadn’t I already finished it? I wish this book were that simple, but in reality, a book needs multiple revisions. That’s okay. Each one brings it closer to fruition.
The next step is to clean it up, then have new readers read it. Yes, this is probably the most OCD kind of process that the writing mankind has ever inflicted upon itself. But here are the silver linings:
1. I had been working on it steadily over the past two months, but got a boost in the form of an accountability group with a bunch of other writers. So yay for accountability groups. They work!
2. I basically sat and edited 17 chapters straight yesterday and today. Life threw a bunch of distractions my way. I handled ones that I couldn’t postpone and postponed ones that I could. I went on Facebook but didn’t click on any cat videos. I didn’t run my typical Monday 5k, but I finished this revision. That’s okay – I am running a 5k on Thanksgiving Day.
3. This time around, I learned more about galleons (they were called treasure fleets, cool huh?), capital punishment in the eighteenth century (read: executions), and courts-martial. I also found a picture of a mansion that I actually used in my story. From the 18th century. I love the Internet. With every revision, I gain more expertise on this time and place. I honestly feel like a walking encyclopedia. I love it. It makes me feel confident with my material. If I really wanted to I could write gobs of books set in this time period.
4. Each revision is closer to being more layered, nuanced. The characters are less cardboard-cutout and more real.
5. The villain has motivation now. He’s not just a crazy guy with a vendetta. He’s a crazy motivated guy with a vendetta.
6. I deepened the protagonist’s motivation and upped the stakes. I gave him a flaw and wrote more kissing scenes between him and his love interest.
7. I fleshed out the story much more, my manuscript is now in the 75k word range. Previously, it was about 65k. 10k in two days!
8. Oh, here’s a biggie: I wrote a new first chapter. I suppose I could turn it into a prologue, technically speaking, but I will call it chapter one for now. It opens like a scene from a movie. Who shall I cast when the book hits the theaters, mmm? 🙂
And on that obviously very sleep-deprived note, I am off to bed. Chau! <3
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