The Edit, Part One: The Reread

"Whose left hand spins the moon and whose right hand spins the sun"

Last year I wrote the rough draft of a novel. This year I’m editing it to make it good! I’m documenting the process here.

Part One: The Reread

Last week I started the editing journey. Specifically, I reread my rough draft!

It was two months since I'd finished it. While I was mostly able to not peek at it, I was not able to stop thinking about it. On average, I made a note a day.

I printed it all out (gratitude to the trees) and tried to, as closely as possible, read it the way I would any other novel. Though look at this beast! It’s 400 pages at 1.5 line spacing, 11 point font, Times New Roman.

So how’d it go? Well, even though my imagination tried to fill it in, I was still struck by how little of my imagination had gotten onto the page! It lacked drive. It lacked breath. It lacked setting. I've been joking with people that it's 3/10, but I think it needs a downgrade to 2/10!

But I still know I can get it to 10/10. I’m not discouraged, though I think it’s going to be a busy year of crafting. The vision in my head is bursting with life and colour and I know I can get it onto the page. There were glimmers of goodness, single pages -- including the first page! If I can make every page beautiful, I'll succeed.

In preparation I'm currently reading some books on editing. I'll update more soon!