The whopping 109-page Western is sitting beside my computer and it’s taunting me. Why did I ever think single-spaced was a good idea? Honestly. Am I going to change the format starting October? Nope. I’m one of those creatures that has OCD when it comes to format and presentation- things have to look identical except in very specific situations. My inner Oscar Wilde will approve of my aesthetic choices but my eyeballs may revolt.
I have to admit, I have no idea how to approach this revision stage. Do I read it through once then go back and read and revise? Or do I start right off the bat? I think I’ll actually really enjoy editing but I know that I’m going to hate reading something I wrote. In fact, I’ve been meaning to offer an apology so here goes:
I am truly sorry for any grammatical and/or spelling error(s) as well as awkward sentences or repeated words that my posts may contain. I’m generally writing these on the fly so I don’t usually have time to re-read them before publishing them. There’s rarely a day that goes by in which I don’t need to edit a post that’s already been published. I have a weird aversion to reading what I’ve written; I don’t know why or when this happened but if I’m going to be editing a year’s worth of novels, I kind of have to get over this hang up sooner rather than later. Now I can understand actors and singers who can’t stand to watch or hear their own performances.
*Phew* I’m glad I finally got that out of my system. It’s going to be interesting to see how this editing process goes. I’m really looking forward to it, especially since I have lots of friends and family coming to bat for me me and offering to read it and help with suggestions. Are they the bestest or what? It’s going to be a really interesting month with 1 novel to edit, 1 to write, volunteering, a girls’ weekend far, far away, a visit with my Mom, dancing, lots of walkies, possibly resuming my Irish lessons, Halloween festivities and of course work!
I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be busy but now that I’m getting a taste of it, I’m hooked!
12 Novels in 12 Months 
if you have “a weird aversion to reading” what you’ve written, then good luck with your revision 😉
Just joking – you’ll find that during revision your story really comes to life. Although it takes me at least as long to revise what I’ve written than to write it in the first place, I don’t share many writers’ aversion to revision.
From one of your previous post I understand that you want to join a competition, which probably means that you want to get started soon. Else I would recommend that you give your novel a month of shelf time in order to see it with fresh eyes.
I think of a text (fiction or not, short or long) as a meal. I start with an idea of what I want (sometimes with a recipe = outline), get the necessary ingredients (research), prepare them (rough concept), weigh them (sometimes) and line them all up. – This is my draft.
Then I start cooking, that is I use the ingredients in the right order and the right combination, plus of course using adequate techniques, like, you don’t fry the eggs before you add them to the pancake batter. -This is the part of the revision where I read the whole thing in one go, check the structure for gaps, boring passages, consistency, open questions, loose ends etc., mark them or take notes on whatever whatever other problems I come across. Whatever doesn’t contribute will be deleted right away.
then, assuming that basically everything is okay (or having taken measures to fix it), I taste and refine what I cooked. – This is going bit by bit (chapter by chapter, paragraph by paragraph) through the whole text, from beginning to the end, fixing and correcting according to my notes.
I put what I cooked on a plate and decorate it nicely 🙂 – Only now is it worthwhile to start editing spelling, grammar, expression, flow. It helps to read the text aloud.
Voila, and enjoy your meal:)
Btw, Holly Lisle has on her site a great article about one-pass revision. It’s time-saving and works well enough, but if you’ve never done a revision before it might be a bit confusing. Still, why not give it a try?
Thanks so much for the advice and help. Holy Moley! That’s fantastic! I will definitely be checking out Holly Lisle’s site for that one-pass guide for editing.
I also have to go back and edit all these posts 😦 Perhaps this’ll break down my dislike of reading what I write.