A number of people have visited links on my page I haven’t had a chance to write yet. For today’s post, please see my page called “Arranged Marriage?”
Get Well Jack Layton
I had something else planned for today’s post. I have noticed lots of page visitors are visiting pages I haven’t had a chance to write yet, so today I was simply going to write one of those pages and post a link to the new information for my blog post. I’m overflowing with other ideas as well.
But I am fiercely Canadian. And something needs to be said. Jack Layton, leader of the official opposition announced yesterday that he is facing cancer a second time.
I did not vote for the New Democratic Party. But I have a great respect for Jack Layton, and I hate cancer, which is partly what motivated me to write the novel I’ve written.
My prayers are with Mr. Layton and his family. Fight as hard as you fought in the election, Mr. Layton. I pray your results will be as outstanding.
If you would like to wish Mr. Layton well, please do so here.
July 3 in 30 Week 4
The biggest factor in our lives this week has been the heat! Sleeping has been difficult, and the days have been lazy. In spite of the weather, I’m doing great on two of my goals for 3 in 30. Exercise has been a challenge for me, since I just couldn’t bear to get any sweatier:
- Bible in 90 Days – Got caught up at the beginning of the week and then lost a day one day this week because I just tried to do too many things in a day. But I’m caught up again, and really glad I decided to take the challenge.
- Manuscript Revision – Posted my revision schedule in yesterday’s post. Feeling very good about this, although I can’t help getting a little nervous that I’ll actually be able to pull this off. It feels like I have A LOT to do in the countdown to the writer’s conference I’m attending August 10-13. You do know that’s only 19 days away, right?
- Exercise – I’m really trying to cut myself some slack here. It has been crazy hot, and with the air conditioning on and fans blowing everywhere, the temperature on the lower floor of the house hasn’t gone below 27 all week. In the face of this, I’ve wimped out on exercise. I exercised three days this week instead of the four I hoped for, or the five to seven I was doing last month. Fortunately, with the heat, my appetite has been reduced as well, so I’m holding steady. Looks like there’s a break in the temperature coming up next week. Looking forward to that!
Revision Schedule
Is it perverse that I’m actually enjoying the revision process? Because I’ve written with a giant three-year hiatus between the first half of my second draft and the second half, I can see how my writing has developed.
I’m also seeing lots of things I think need change. Which is why I picked up an old favorite of mine, a book called Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan. It’s the text from the very first writing course I ever took from what was then Writer’s Online Workshops, and what now seems to be Writer’s Digest University.
It contains so much wonderful advice, and her writing is such a delight to read, I’m enjoying the read all over again. And picking up tons of good advice about how to revise my manuscript. While I read last night, I made a list of things to revise, and tried out a few. Just searching out one word in my manuscript and editing the portions that contained it, already made for a much stronger story. I could see where I had been holding back, which was my instinct about the story, but I couldn’t quite identify why I felt that way.
So here is my plan for revision until the July 31. (Please don’t laugh, even if you know it’s completely unrealistic.) The end of the month was my deadline anyway, but I’m even more serious about it now because I’ve been given a scholarship to a writer’s conference, and need to get things in gear!
July 20 – Finish reading Word Painting
July 21-22 Make changes from list created while reading Word Painting
July 23-24 Edit based on reading and pen-and-paper edit of manuscript done July 7-16
July 25-26 I want to try out some editing software to pick up anything I missed
July 27-31 Read aloud as much of the manuscript as possible, submit to my faithful readers for feedback, and hope they can read fast!
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