Plans: Drawn

Finally finished going through Part Three with a fine tooth comb. When I was writing it, I wondered if the conflict between MMC2 and MFC was really enough to warrant the kind of reaction she had. Now that I read it, it does seem like something that could happen. Not to mention that R tells me that “people break up over stupider shit all the time.” He is truly a wise man.

Now all I have to do is go back to the beginning of the story and insert the changes, rewrite the bits that need help and try my damnedest not to put in any extra chapters. After that, I’m going to get it all printed up and coil bound so I can do a reading of the complete story (alpha) before I write the supplemental booklet and send it out with the pseudo-galleys to my very patient beta readers and brace myself for the onslaught of criticism that is sure to follow. I really hope this all pays off at some point.

Also, I did some of what I like to refer to as “inadvertent research” at work. Meaning that I eavesdropped on a conversation and got proof that some of the things I’d written were indeed plausible. A very sweet girl was in a long-term relationship that suddenly ended and is now having trouble referring to her current significant other as her “boyfriend.” Is it my co-worker or my MFC? The world may never know.

Wait, what?

This has nothing to do with anything, except for the fact that I shared the 6:00 Irving Park bus with a kid that was the living equivalent of Nathan, age 14 (aka MMC2). I couldn't stop looking at him over my book and I couldn't look at him directly because it would be really creepy for me to openly stare at the kid. Can you imagine that conversation?

Me: Oh good lord. You look just like I imagine the 14 year old version of a character in a story that I wrote would look.

Kid: Who are you?

Me: Can I take a picture of you for reference?

Kid: I'm calling the cops now.

This, combined with the fact that I told someone I was going to hit Falafel Palace for lunch (when it exists only in my apparently diseased brain), makes me wonder if it's time to up my medication. I did have a falafel sandwich for lunch, though. At a non-fictional place.

Do I Know Me or What?

Just as I suspected, I am much less productive when I'm holding down a job and trying to find an apartment. I wish I could say I'd already finished editing Part Three, but it's just not happening right now. Not that I don't love it, or that I shouldn't be doing it right now instead of typing, but as we all know, things happen.

Was flipping through it last night and realized that the last three chapters need some serious love. They're not unreadable by any stretch of the imagination, but it's obvious (to me at least) that I was trying to get it finished and into the editing stage with the thought that I could always make it better later. There are some things that need extending and some things that need to be cut and still others that need to be added.

Sometimes I feel like this is never going to be finished.

Foundation: Laid

Last night I finished editing Part Two, only to think of something that was still a little off about Part One. So once again I went back to it, rolled it over in my mind, and changed a couple of details that resulted in my having to go back through most of it and rework it to fit those details. I'm sure I missed something somewhere. Oh well, that's why I'll be reading it again.

I did find a bit in Part Two that I forgot I put in, but was pleased with because it alludes to something that MMC2 doesn't actually go into detail about until Part Three. Not sure if this was because I had his character planned so well or because I subconsciously remembered that I wrote the first part and wrote the second part to go with it. It's also possible that it was just a fortunate coincidence.

Once I finish editing Part Three I get to go back on the computer and make the technical and basic changes I indicated (approximately 900,000 of them), then have it printed up so I can read through it again and make any changes that affect the flow of the story before I send it out to the beta readers. I really hope all this editorial effort helps me find an agent/publisher when I'm done.

Back to Basics

Finished the shiny new chapter and slipped it into place. At first I wasn't sure about it, but by the time I was done I liked it quite a bit. It also plays well with its neighbors, which is important in the long run.

This, of course, means that last night I was back to editing. To the right is what a typical page looks like after my highlighter, pen and sticky tabs are through with it. Impressive? That's not what I heard.

At the rate I'm going, I should have the whole thing edited and cleaned up by June. Then I'm going to reprint the alpha-edited product (about $25 at Kinkos, which is about what it would cost me to buy an ink cartridge) and read it for coherency before I get it printed up and mailed to the beta readers.

Note to self: pick up 9x12 envelopes, 6x9 envelopes, stamps, staples and a new lorazepam scrip. This one's gonna be a fighter.

Not Again

Walking home from the bus yesterday I realized that, much to my dismay, I need to add another chapter. The thought made me want to curl into a ball under the L and wait for someone to murder me and steal my sushi.

Upon editing Part One, I felt like something was missing. I wrote Part One kind of short because it's supposed to convey a sense of urgency and the fact that MMC1 and FMC's relationship was very brief. However, I realized that I didn't go into as much detail as I should have about the way they interact with each other and with other people when they're together. One chapter should suffice, and I know exactly where to place it. I even wrote part of it before I went to bed last night. I just thought I was done with this business.

Yay editing.

Connection: Made

Finished deep editing the first part of the story and already I am out of orange sticky tabs. It would seem that when I left this draft out on the table overnight it became infested with commas. The dang things are multiplying like rabbits.

When I'm finished correcting these small pieces of idiocy, I think I'd really like to read the thing again as a cohesive whole before I send it off to other people to make sure it flows the way I think it should. Also because I'm kind of enjoying it.

I really hope this doesn't make me a narcissist. I don't think it does, though, because when I read it I don't think of it as something I wrote. I just think of it as something I'm enjoying, even though I know what's going to happen. That might not make sense, but I've been staring at a computer screen and a giant manuscript alternately all day and I'm getting a little punchy.

Moving Day

Moving to Chicago today. Editing on the train. Going to need more sticky tabs.

Comfortably Numb

It's done. Topped out at 322 pages, over 183,000 words and 66 chapters. I worked up the idea and started the outline on December 7 of last year and now it is finally done. The first draft, anyway.

I don't know whether I should laugh or cry. Maybe I'll just sit here and watch Harvey Keitel shuffle-kick Steve Buscemi around an abandoned warehouse. Again. Before the worry sets in.

Worrisome things include whether or not I'm going to read this thing and realize I need to insert a chapter here or there to make sense of some stuff. Historically, I am not the best person to make this kind of judgment. There is always the possibility that after I read it my hands are going to want to throw it in a fire.

All joking aside, I think this might be the best thing I've ever written. I've re-read a random bit here or there and there's nothing that's made me groan with embarrassment. In fact, every time I've picked it up to read through it I've started out with trepidation in my heart and ended up getting engrossed in the story. I don't know if that means it's good or I'm self-absorbed. This is why I have beta readers.

Starting tomorrow, I'm in alpha.