This weekend I finished with some MEGA revisions on my ms. This mega revising started two weeks ago and was inspired when a certain agent at the writing conference might have sort of said he wanted to see my ENTIRE ms in two weeks (deadline: May 23). Upon hearing said news, I FREAKED. Both because, well, I just got a full ms request from an agent (which rocks) and two, because I was in the middle of some major revisions on said ms and didn't know if I could have a respectable product by that time! But, with two weeks til D-day, I decided to gird up my loins and get 'er done.
To give you an idea of just HOW mega these mega revisions were...
Word Count, May 7th, 2011: 105,000 (yes, I know, lots of fluff)
Word Count, May 22nd, 2011: 90,000 (much less fluff)
HOWEVER, as impressive (and I mean impressive because... lets be honest... I'm COMPLETELY amazed myself!) as it is to see a 15,000-ish word difference in a two week span, wait until you see what's next...
Number of Words taken out of MS: 36,000
Which, you savvy mathematicians have already figured out means that the number of words I put INTO my MS was roughly: 21,000... in 2 weeks, mind you. Just 2 weeks.
Folks, that's a 51,000 word count difference. Can I get a "WHOA NELLY!!"?!
Most of you smart people out there who visit my blog are writers, so you already know this, but for those of the un-writing few that frequent this site, 51,000 words is enough for a novella... or a mid grade novel... and its only 30,000 words shy of a respectable YA novel word count!
Its seriously amazing what you can accomplish with a deadline. Who woulda thought?
But before I end with you thinking I'm totally obsessive compulsive about keeping track of the filthy left-over take-out material from my manuscripts, let me explain!
Sometimes, when I'm writing and I decide that a big chunk has got to go, I don't want to just cut it out completely because there might be something I can use from that hunk-o-junk later on. Hence, most of what I cut from my manuscripts, I put in a separate "extras" or "take out" file until I'm ready to delete it permanently. I started doing that this time, but when I noticed the word count getting so high?
Well, I just HAD to let it keep rolling. Wouldn't you?
It makes for good blog post material. Muhahaha ( :
But if you think what I did was impressive (yes that's your cue to applaud and pat me on the back)... you should hear how my friend Lauren is killing herself right now. She makes my mega revising look like, well... to use a well-beloved cliche: child's play.
And yet--unlike me--she still has time to update her blog... [hangs head in shame]...
Go Lauren!! Woot, woot for deadlines!
9 comments:
Julie, you are the sweetest! And 21,000 words written plus 36,000 edited out is no child's play. Unless that child is some sort of super-genius. I'm so excited I finally get to read the whole thing!!!!!!!
Awh, thank you! You'll definitly have to let me know what you think... actually, on second thought, if it sucks, don't tell me until AFTER Josh rejects me! Haha ( :
[Fingers crossed hoping that he doesn't, though!!]
Exciting! It feels so good to dig in and get so much done! I have a lot of writing to get done this week. Need to get serious!(=
Stalking ya right back, girl.
Yes you may Julie . . .
"WHOA Nelly!!"
And because I caught the clue, I applaud you and pat you on the back. *applaud* *pat pat pat*
Well done sis, I'm proud of you.
Jo: It IS very nice to look back and see how much has been accomplished... even if it wasn't the most stress-free process while it was happening! Good luck with your own "diggin'"! Also, I'm glad we can be stalking buddies ( ; Everyone needs a good stalker now and again... hardy har!
Mike: Yessssss. You are, in fact, the coolest person EVER... if only because you responded to my REALLY lame blog jokes. I heart you for it, bro!
BRAVO!!! *claps, hoots, hollers* That is impressive condensing! Keep me posted how it goes!!!! BEST OF LUCK and AWESOME JOB!
Barb: THANK YOU!! And congrats right back at you, babe for your own full ms request! Woot, woot!
Wow! That's amazing that you did all that in just 2 weeks! Gives me hope that I could do that too one day.
And so exciting that you've got an agent looking over your MS! Keep us updated how that goes.
Lana: thank you!!! And believe me girl, I bet you could do it too! I didn't even know I was capable of something like that until someone turned up the pressure! I think our minds are capable of incredible things when we're challenged.
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