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| First Wednesday of every month. |
Years ago, when I was asked to revise and resubmit to agents, I would receive rejections. One of them even wrote back with the important message that revisions take time and that I should have sat on my manuscript to think things over—this was when I took two weeks to do major rewrites on a manuscript, in which case my manuscript lost its voice. In my eagerness to get published I didn't turn in a publishable manuscript.
These days I revise differently. I take the time to write notes for days, even weeks. If I'm dealing with revision notes from an agent or editor I mull over them endlessly. I bring my notes and ideas to my critique partners to get their feedback. Only after I reflect and when I feel ready do I tackle revisions. This IWSG post is related to one of my ROW80 goals…
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This round of A Round of Words in 80 Days runs from October 1st to December 19th. Here are my goals for this round, all involving YA manuscripts. Abbreviations are used for the titles. My updates are in red.A) Revise and edit TWILAMPH, a manuscript I've been working on for several ROW80 rounds, and send it back to my agent. I took my revision notes to my critique group on Monday to gather ideas on how to make the manuscript better. I'm going to tackle revisions this week.
B) Edit EK, which I started late last year, and get it to beta readers. Over the weekend, before ROW80 began, I edited 8 chapters, and since ROW80 I edited 2, so 10 chapters have been edited for the first round of edits. I'd like to do three rounds of edits.
C) This is optional and only if I finish A and B first—pull out a manuscript I haven't worked on in a while, KMK, and rewrite it. I already wrote notes for this, but I need some more time to gather my thoughts. I haven't started on this yet.
40 Comments on IWSG and a ROW80 Update, last added: 10/8/2012
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Reflection is so important before working on revisions. Taking a break really helps you to see things more clearly!
Medeia, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the hazards of revisions, particularly when doing so for an agent who's not ready to take you on. Your words are a slice of comfort.
xx
Brilliant advice for how to tackle re-writes! Yay!!
Good luck too with your amazing goals!! Take care
x
Making revisions is the most important part. As you said, take time to do it right.
I like all the positive energy this morning!
It's always a good idea to take the time to reflect on your revisions. Otherwise, you might miss something important in your haste to absorb all the details of the feedback. I know. I've been there.
You are very focused and know just what you need to do! Good for you. You will, no doubt, have much success in all your endeavors because of your great attitude towards putting in the work/time.
Rushing through rewrites can be sooo tempting (I imagine) thnaks for sharing your experience and advice.
Good luck with your writing goals!
BUT I WANT IT TO HAPPEN NOW!!!! I've found I am so impatient, it's best for me to have several open projects that way each has the opportunity to "breathe".
It's definitely important to take some time away from a book before editing and revising. You can see everything with fresh, new eyes. I've been away from some of my books for like a decade, thanks to having been on disks on obsolete file formats, and it made a world of difference when I finally was able to convert and reformat them.
SUCH a smarter approach to revising... I've had the same problem in the past... it's STILL hard for me to sit on something before turning it in... :)
Good luck on your revisions. You have lots of projects in the mix!
That sitting and thinking and note-making is SO important. So often getting an R&R puts people in a flurry and a panic. I know agents and editors are disappointed when they get an R&R back too fast.
Great advice on taking the time to really think things through. Although at this point, I think I have taken my "thinking time" to ridiculous extremes. :-)
Good luck with your goals, Medeia. Revisions is the most important part of work in progress.
You're always a source of inspiration for me, Medeia. Been writing up a storm in the past couple of days on my end.
Revisions do take a lot of time. I think I'm finally learning not to be in such a hurry to submit things until they are really good.
Always a better idea to spend more time on a project than rush it through.
Good luck with your goals!
Thanks for your insights on revisions. Very helpful. You are so right that it's important to mull over comments before making changes.
Isn't it amazing how much we learn over time? I totally didn't get revision the first time I finished a manuscript. Great advice!
Good luck with your goals!
That is important to know. I would have had no idea how long I should take on an editor requested revision, and would have rushed through it, too. Something to ponder on when that day hopefully comes!
Shannon at The Warrior Muse
Such great advice on revising... I've been guilty of doing the quick revision... does not end well...
Thanks for this great advice, Medeia. It's always good for me to hear that I shouldn't rush. I tend to think rushing will somehow make me look better, but taking time and thinking things through will make a better end product. Good luck with your revisions!
Good goals and advice. The issue of losing the voice is such a valid one. I was told to watch out for that one and have worried about it ever since.
I was sure I'd left a comment here, but as I'm missing, I'll write another. I think if you're asked for revisions by an agent you don't want them to forget about you, so you rush through. It's an easy mistake. I'm glad you take your time now :-)
Good luck on all your edits Medeia. It is good to mull things over.
I actually really enjoy editing, although I probably would not enjoy it so much if I had to edit the same thing a million times.
I'm glad to see you've made some good progress on your goals! Keep it up :)
Some really valuable points.
Thanks for sharing these insights...
Good luck with the revisions.
Hey, I did the same thing once! I worked hard, and put in long hours, to make a revision turnaround of 2 weeks. The editor didn't even read the ms--rejected it just because I only took 2 weeks. I was crushed! No one had ever told me. So it's good you're letting others know this!
My first reaction to editorial letters is always, "What!?!?!?" I have to sleep on it, think it over, sometimes cry, and then push it from my mind before I'm ready to figure things out and work on revisions. Giving yourself time is a must.
Your advice is wonderful, especially coming from you well of knowledge and experience. Thank you for sharing this important reminder.
You're doing well! Thanks for the reminder that we need to take time to get revisions right, especially when dealing with agents. Not been in that situation yet, but I imagine it would be easy to be impatient to get it back to them.
You are wildly ambitious and yet, I have NO doubt that all these things will be tackled in the next month. Keep going, lady:)
I hate revisions in my own job too, when I finish a translation of a book and have to read it all again.... uuugh....
Great advice, thank you! I feel so much better about my *slow* progress.
Great advice. Sometimes it's easy to be a bit too eager...always better to take your time and really work on the draft.
Thank you for stopping by, everyone.
I'm glad you agree with me about not rushing things.
Have a great weekend and I'll visit your blogs soon.
Letting a manuscript rest for a while before revisions and editing is something it took me a while to learn. It's always worth the wait.
I think that's a good method. I used to revise super-fast and then wonder why I didn't get positive feedback. Now I need to work on knowing when it's finished! :)
I just revised a WIP that I SWORE was finished months ago, but little ideas kept pinging in my brain. I finally sat back down with pages of notes and post-its and voila a whole new version SO much better popped out.
That's great advice on revisions. I get impatient and don't always take the time it really takes to do things right. Thank you for sharing your experience.