07 March 2018

Securely Insecure (or Insecurely Secure?)

It's the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the posting day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Click here to learn more and sign up!


It happened again! I went a whole month without a blog post! Bad! I haven't even been reading other people's blogs. Double bad! I don't even really have a good excuse besides laziness (or maybe just being tired).

At the very least, I thought I'd write a post just to brag about how I managed to see all nine Best Picture nominees before the Oscars this past Sunday. Well, I guess I'm bragging about it now! It helps that I live above a movie theater and my husband's friend is in SAG and lent us some screeners (shhhhh just don't tell anyone). I really liked all nine, which is unexpected. But they were all good and deserved the nomination in my opinion. Just don't ask me to rank them! You can probably guess my heavily biased I've read the book like three or four times favorite...if you pay attention to my usual nonsense 'round here.

Anyway, I'm rambling again. On to the insecurity!

Actually, you know what? I'm not really feeling that insecure lately (besides the not blogging thing). Well, I'm not fully secure either. At last month's post time, I was still stuck on Chapter 13 of my third draft. It was definitely grueling, but I got through it! In the last draft, this chapter was 3 1/2 pages. Now it's 8 1/3! I think it came out so much better than before.

And guess what happened after that? I FINISHED CHAPTER 14, TOO!

Ok, so this isn't happening at the speed of light, but it's much faster than my usual pace. So now I'm on Chapter 15, which I haven't looked at in a couple days but once I actually sit down and do it, shouldn't take too long (yeah, yeah, we've heard that before, Sarah). I'm actually surprised at how much I've had to change as I'm writing this draft. It's a lot of new stuff.

What I am a bit insecure about is that the closer I get to the last third of the book, the more work will be needed. I basically have to completely rewrite that last third, minus a couple scenes (maybe just one, actually). I thought editing the first two thirds would be easy, and I was so, so wrong. I already know that last third will be difficult, so it'll probably turn out to be impossible. Or maybe it'll be the opposite and be surprisingly easy. I can dream, right?

Does editing ever turn out to be harder (or easier) than you expected? Did you see any of the Best Picture nominees?

25 comments:

  1. Glad you got through the hard chapter. I love editing because I've had to do so much. Now I'm at a much scarier point in my writing--the blank page that most writers love. Happy writing! And hope you start blogging more. Miss you.

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  2. I actually love editing more than writing the first draft. Don't sweat the blogging thing. I only post on IWSG days. Writing is my first priority:)

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  3. I didn't see any of the Best Picture nominations. In fact, I can't remember the last movie I saw in the theaters.... :o

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  4. Editing doesn't come easy for me and in fact I'm stalled on editing/revising my current novel. I have a bad attitude about it that I desperately need to change.

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  5. Editing after getting my beta reader feedback turned out to take longer than I thought it would. There were some differences in opinions in the feedback which took a while to work through and decide what to change and what not to.

    Congrats on finishing Chapter 14 :-)

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  6. I haven't seen any of them, but would like to. Someday. You hear that Redbox?

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  7. The closer I get to the end of my book, the more I worry about fitting everything in. But at least I AM getting closer to the end of the book, so that's something. Congrats on finishing another chapter.

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  8. Editing is definitely going slow for me for the Greenling Chronicles book 1 (I scrapped the original title). However, in the dim recesses of my glossed over memory, I do know that I spent 7 years finishing the first book in The Champion Trilogy while drafting book 2 and outlining book 3. Looking back, I remember that the world-building decisions and character arc decisions took me "forever." And, that's what I'm doing now with GC 1 (with book 2 already partially drafted and five different outlines for ther rest of the series). Agh.
    Now, let's get back to it!
    :)
    Happy writing and revising!

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  9. You can do it! Just keep thinking about how far you've come.
    I only saw two of the Best Picture nominees. Lucky you.

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  10. That's awesome you saw all the Best Picture nominees. I don't get out to the cinema that often, even though there is one here in town playing all nine right now. You're doing awesome with the editing! I do dread editing myself, but often I find it not so terrible once I do it.

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  11. I feel pretty much the same as you with my blogging of late! Editing can be hard but I actually enjoy that stage as there is something to work with (even if it does need a lot of work!) Keep going, I tell myself progress is progress however small.

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  12. I only managed to see one of the best picture nominees—and only because the library just happen to have the Dunkirk DVD on the shelf when I walked in the day before the Oscars ceremony.

    I'm so glad that you're making progress with your edits! (I really can't wait to read your book one day!) My editing/revising phases always seem to last years longer than I think they will.

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  13. Glad to hear you making progress. Keep it up. =)

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  14. Editing is usually equally harder and easier than I expected. Heh. It sounds like you're making progress, which is great!

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  15. Editing always takes longer than I expect, and it's harder than writing. No, I haven't seen any of the Oscar nominees. I don't expect to see them on the big screen, either. None really appealed to me.

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  16. We keep putting ourselves through the grind, and winning! Here's to a fab final draft soon.

    Damyanti

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  17. Good for you for finishing those chapters!!! Yay!

    Sadly, I didn’t see a single nominated movie. I don’t go to the movies and wait for them to come out. lol

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  18. I haven't been looking at other people's blogs either, and I feel so bad about it! I have to pick it back up!

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  19. Congrats on the progress. Happy IWSG Day.

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  20. Woot woot woot! Yay for getting through 13 and 14! I definitely know the pains of editing, as I'm doing that now.

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  21. I find editing to be a relatively simple affair. Usually four rounds max does the trick for me before I decide to send it off to an editor.

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  22. Sarah, good luck with the last third of your book. Just got to keep pressing through we all know hoe challenging that can be but you have a story to tell and you're the one to write it.

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  23. I haven't seen any of the nominees. How bad is that? We just didn't get or make the time. There's always next year . . .

    I hadn't blogged or visited other blogs in two months, so I also feel bad. I'm sure we'll catch up.

    Good luck with the last third of your book. Just keep going, however slow your progress.

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  24. Well done on your progress. The last third won't be impossible. It's another challenge that I'm sure you will get through. Just keep swimming!

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  25. I have not seen ANY of the Oscar movies. At all.

    Editing is always harder than I think. Always.

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