The Peculiar Chronicles,
It’s officially been three weeks since the opening of this blog and with that, weekly scheduled posts! Not including – last Friday, due to the loss of Internet.
I tried everything to get it back, except climbing to the top of the power line and trying to fix it myself. Which would have ended very badly. At last I had to wait for the company to send someone out on Monday. But nevertheless, it got fixed and is up and running! I’m really sorry about missing last weeks Journal entry! I briefly managed to send out a tweet on my cellphone saying that my Internet was down and blog post would be suspended till Monday. I’m cringing just at the thought of getting my phone bill for it. Yikes!
On a brighter note, I had a few days of absolutely no distractions! I ate through two novels, and worked on my consisting one. Which is currently making me ‘pull out my hair’! I sat a goal back in the summer to write and complete a novel by this past September, and I’m just going through the editing stage now. But golly, it’s not where or what I want it to be. It was a mash of third person and first person, miss spelt words and plot holes! So it’s siting in ‘my documents’ collecting artificial computer dust, while I work on my new project for ‘National Novel Writing Month’ or also known as #NaNoWriMo. I’m coming to it with a clean kitchen counter, wiped of any crumbs or dirty dishes and I am super excited. This will be my first year, and hopefully many more to come.
I picked up a few books the other day on editing. I’m learning more! Which is always good. If you have any suggestions or tips on editing, I would love to hear them!
Till next week!
I want to thank-you again for your support and love with this blog and twitter!
Love,
Alecia
Alecia Writes 
Editing is tough and can be tedious. It’s a lot less fun than just sitting down and writing. I have a little experience with this, so I may be able to offer some advice.
First of all, do you have anyone (or multiple persons) who might be able to assist you? Often the author thinks she or he has explained everything clearly; but when others read it, they don’t get it. This is because we have already worked it out in our heads and can see everything; while they need to be told.
If you have people willing to read your work and critique it, I would start there. If these people are talented, they may even be able to help you spot problems in plot, theme, etc.
If you don’t have anyone to do this, I would suggest “divorcing” yourself from the work first. Don’t try to edit something you just wrote a couple of days ago. If you let some time pass, you may be able to give it a fresh eye, and see what you need to do all by yourself.
Thirdly, don’t get too attached to any of your words. You may have to cut them out in order to improve your story. If you really love them, then cut them out and save them in another folder to be used at a later date.
Lastly, be prepared to roll up your sleeves and do a lot of work. I find that writers are never quite satisfied with their work, but at some point you just have to let it go and let it have a life of its own.
Good luck!
Thank-you Joe! Your advice is brilliant. I love the idea of ‘divorcing’ yourself from your work and coming back to it with fresh eyes! I know that I’ll be using all of these tips. Thanks again!
Have a wonderful day! 🙂
Always a pleasure to help. 🙂
I think Joe gave some excellent advice here. I might take some of those suggestions and run with them myself.
Great! 🙂
I am always happy to help.