So yesterday some interesting things happened. I actually, submitted my first story to CritiqueCircle.com, and in the process, I did quite a bit of editing on it. At least in terms of getting rid of a lot of extraneous words. I was pretty brutal, I though with about the first 3500 words of the story. I went through, and pulled out probably around 350 words, or 10% of the original word count. Which I thought was quite a bit, but perhaps it wasn’t really all that much. I do think the story reads better now, but I’m second guessing myself a lot on the content of the story now. Which, I suppose is an improvement, as I feel that at least the story works much better from a stylistic approach. But, after reading a few other critiques, of other peoples works, it’s a bit depressing. Knowing, that others are likely going to rip apart my writing. Mind you, it won’t all be worth it, if I get get a few good ideas. From what I’ve seen of the critiques on the site so far, a few are usually pretty good, but a lot are just opinion, and a few are really bad. The trick, is getting someone good to read critique story. And, even then, it’s just someone else’s opinion. What really matters, is how well the story sells. I think what I have written has a bit too much exposition at the beginning, and not enough dialogue, but other stories do that as well, so I’m not too worried about it. I don’t mind reading that kind of story, but I’m sure some of the other writers will jump on it. The thing with writing, is that there are a lot of rules written about it, but your totally free, to throw all the rules out the window. And, remember, this is just your first story. I think, if I can get it to read well, and be a bit entertaining, with good flow, then I won’t worry too much about the style it’s written in. I’ll always be free to change that as the second novel comes along. Remember, the key thing here, is to get the damn thing finished and out there. Go through the process, and start building a base of readers. That’s what you really need to do. Start a mailing list. Get it out there. If that book get’s really panned, you can always pull it down, or just do some revisions. That’s the beauty of self published. You can do whatever you want with it. It feels like I’m spinning my wheels with this editing, just because it’s taking so much longer than I thought, but in reality, I’m actually learning so much about it. I have a much better idea, of what needed changing, in my first book. I know, that it’s far too wordy to start with, and if I can write my first draft with a few less extraneous words, then the editing process will get better. I know, that if I spend more time outlining the story up front, that it will not only be much better, but it will go faster. I know, that I need to pay more attention to the whole scene and sequel cycle. I need to be sure, there is conflict in each of those scenes that is driving the story forward, and making it interesting for the reader. I know about structure, and that if I can incorporate the 7-point structure going forward, I’ll have a better starting point for subsequent novels. It is a lot to learn, and granted, there have been other things slowing me down, but if I can just get these process down a little bit smoother, and faster, which I’m sure I can, then this whole thing will be a more productive and enjoyable experience. That’s also what I’m going for here, is to make this an enjoyable experience. There is a core part of me, that really enjoys the writing, but at the moment, I feel that all the uncertainty around getting it done, is overwhelming me a lot. I just need to work through all the uncertain pieces, and keep moving forward, and eventually I’ll be successful with it. Which is incredibly exciting. The end game here has a lot of potential. This is the first endevour, where I feel like, once I get a bit of success with it, I can stick to it for the rest of my life. And that’s a first. It would be the first job / business where I think I’d like to do it forever. Which, is pretty exciting.

TIGERBLOOD: yes DAILYMOOD: good – anxious LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN:editing PUSHUPS: 2:00 plank TODO: editing TV: californication, 70s Show BOOK: excerpts of a few zombie indie authors GAME: BitRunner, A Clone In The Dark EXERCISE: walk for 50 minutes WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: none SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:45 AWAKE: 6:30