Revising a Novel Manuscript [Commitments & Planning]

It’s mid-July.
I have officially written a total of 1,000 words this YEAR.

And this weekend, I finally feel ready to step back into storycraft.

The Decision

I can’t really explain what has shifted, except that my desire to write has grown and simmered, ideas for projects have bubbled up to the surface and after 3 days of re-reading all my old titles, shelved stories, old NaNoWriMo projects and new novel ideas… I’m back to editing The Felled Gods.

I was so tempted by Camp NaNo, but knew that adding another ‘project’ to my to-do list would only overwhelm me. I move departments at my dayjob this week, and am slowly re-branding my mentorship site ready for a service launch in September. So overwhelm is definitely something I want to avoid more of, if possible!

First Steps

I’ve spent this evening skim-reading the manuscript, cross-referencing general feedback with scene-specific queries. I’m now at Chapter Eight, adding notes of what needs to change, where I could foreshadow aspects, and finding gaps where I need to add description of the environment.

I’m not going to set a specific deadline on myself, but I’m hoping to have the ‘changes-to-make’ plan finished within a couple of weeks, and then I can make a clear plan of what to change in which scenes.

I’d love to hear about your writing and story pursuits: How are you progressing with your goals?