Friday, January 13, 2006

Life goes on

Life even goes on for hubby's grandmother, although in a different sense. She was a Christian, a believer in Jesus, and ready to go. Although there certainly were some tears at her funeral and in the days surrounding it, there also was gladness that she is through the pain and massive difficulties of increasing age.

The winter roads were passable with iffy sections. Connecting with the cousins and other relatives was a good thing. We did some shopping in the city. It was good to go, and it's very good to be home.

My main task these days is to work up a revision plan for False Perceptions. I vacillate between thinking I can do this, and being sure I can't. There is a fair bit of work, but only a few scenes (thus far) need a total rewrite. On the flip side, there are a similar number of scenes that just need a grammar brush-up to be fine. The rest require varying degrees of work. A couple of main characters need some overhauling to be consistent and sympathetic. At the moment I have gone through about a third of the novel, scanning critique notes and making lists. At this rate it will take several more days for this step, but I think it is a vital one. I may need a couple of *mulling* days afterwards to come up with a plan for implementation. Or I could be optimistic and believe that things will begin to gel before I get to the other end. :)

In the meanwhile, I have books that NEED to be read and a new novel that wants to push to the forefront. I did play with ideas some on the road trip, and have narrowed down the possible plotlines from billions to merely dozens. I have a clearer vision of my main character. And I am trying really REALLY hard not to lock myself into any specifics ahead of the class schedule. Must keep focusing on FP. MUST. (Of course, Shann and Taafa from Marks of Repentance want to come out to play, too, but they have to wait for the next revision slot.

Maybe I will do what I suggested to Maripat, and what several folks from the original 2yn class did, and that is to write the first draft of their 2yn as their Nano. It would certainly give me more revision time this year if I planned on only one first draft instead of two. Of course, I could also skip Nano... Hmm. Things to think about.

2 comments:

Jean said...

NaNo is a wonderful time to plan first drafts. For me, it's a fixed point in my annual writing schedule.

I'm sure whatever you decide will work best for you, though.

Maripat said...

Ah come on, Val. NaNo will be fun this year. I'll be there with you.

BTW--sorry about yesterday, I had to reinstall my Norton's...AGAIN>