I’ve come to some conclusions during this entire editing process for the novel. One is that, it’s just more important to get the damn thing finished and out there in whatever condition it’s in. This is not going to be a pulitizer winning novel, so you may as well just finish it, and get on to the next one that might be. You need to get your first million words of published crap out there, before you really start doing the good stuff. Getting it 80% good, is about as good as your going to do this time around. That last 20% would likely take forever. Just write that last few pieces you need to write, like the ending, and the joining piece for the new to the old intro, and be done with it. Get a kick ass cover, and put the damn thing into publication. Do the admin things you need to get setup, like the tax stuff, so Amazon doesn’t withhold money, and get it finished. Then move on. Get the process down. That’s the really important thing. Get the process working, so your cranking out a novel a month or every 6 weeks or whatever. Just get moving. I’m really curious to see, if my rough draft writing mode will change any with the new things I’ve learned about editing. I wonder if I can crank out 5K words per day, and be less wordy. In theory, I should be able to, and if I can it would be awesome, as it should make my editing process faster. I need to edit the 5000 words each day as well. That is, edit the days prior 5000 words, before you get started on the next 5000 words. Not sure, if I should do it before or after the days writing. Doing it after would be better I think, as I’d like to use my early morning energy for getting the writing done. That’s the key thing. Get the writing. Done. Then, move on to the editing. I would think, if I’m editing like I am now during my next writing phase, that my writing should naturally get tighter and more economic. It has to influence the whole process. I know, I can get down to the way Elle writes her stuff. 5000 words per day, written and edited. That would likely be better for editing. Trying to do 10000 words or 20000 words in a day is not great. I think, you just burn out near the end, and the last few thousand words edited just won’t be as good. Editing is just as important in your process as the writing, in terms of impression on the reader. Getting rid of those glaring errors is important. That probably make more of a bad impression immediately, then a great plot line, or interesting characters. Something to think about. But, I think, that between myself, and my editing with the brothers, and perhaps, submitting a few more chapters to CritiqueCircle, the novel should be good enough to publish. I will be grammar free, and in my own style. Which, may no adhere to the suggested conventions and rules of writing, but so what. I decided yesterday, while walking, that writing has more rules wrapped around it, then any other craft. Even more than computer programming. But, there is really only one rule that’s of any great importance. That rule is, you should learn as many of the writing rules as you can. Preferable all of them. Learn them, and understand their purpose. Then, feel free to ignore or implement as many of them as you wish. Writing, is ultimately about freedom. It’s about creating your own world, your own characters, your own story. All the decisions are yours and only yours to make. Sure, if you can find a partner that sees the world like you do, and gets where your coming from, then yes listen to what they have to say. Then, as with the rules, feel free to ignore or implement as many of their suggestions as you want. It’s about freedom, but in a totally selfish way. Make the story your own. Make it, how you would like to read it. Always look for ways to improve, and make it a more enjoyable and freeing process. Writing should make you a better person. I should take you to where you want to be as a person. I believe, I was always meant to do this, it just took me 51 years to figure it out.

TIGERBLOOD: yes DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: editing PUSHUPS: 3:30 wall sit TODO: editing TV: sons of anarchy BOOK: none GAME: Batman Arkham City EXERCISE: walk 1 hour WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: pulled pork SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:45 AWAKE: 6:30