Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Rewrite in progress!

Yesterday and today have been great days for rewriting. I'm already 9k through the book in terms of rewriting everything. To be clear not absolutely everything is being rewritten and changed. A lot of this is so I'm able to add in new material, strengthen scenes, build character relationships, and etc. Not everything needs changing, which is why I'm going through this a lot faster than when I actually wrote the first draft. I like being able to write up each chapter all over again because I know exactly what's going on now. It lets me become more familiar with the characters and the story. It's not like a couple months ago when I was wondering "wait... what chapter did that happen in?" And yesterday I added in two whole new chapters. So a lot of exciting and great changes are happening to the book as we speak.
As far as the rewriting process goes, I love it! I've been taking a lot of pictures of my progress and sharing them all over social media. I'm thinking at the end of this book once it releases I can make an album of where I started and ended with this journey. It'd be great to bring along to book signings. 
What's been getting me through these past couple days? Honestly after taking a break and then getting back into the work I love I feel fully prepared. I always keep my journal and first draft beside me at all times while I'm rewriting. I have a bunch of notes of what needs to be added, changed, and any questions I have. There's so much happening, but I love it. I'm using Ommwriter as my primary writing software. I type up everything on there while listening to their calming music, and then at the end of every day I copy it and paste it into my word document. 
Once again I'm using Wordly (the writing app I've talked about before) to track my progress. I just started using it today. I realized I wanted a way to track how long I'm writing and how much I get done. So I made a new writing project and called it "Clara and Claire Rewriting," and now I can see how close I am to reaching the 82k total at the end. 
Once I'm done with this rewriting process I'm thinking it's going to be time to call in the beta readers. You know who you are! And if you're interested there's still plenty of time to let me know. I go on vacation in June --so if May goes really smoothly maybe I'll finish rewriting that month and in June send it off to beta readers. That way I can come back from vacation and hear your thoughts!

In other news...

If you follow me on my other social media, the cat's out of the bag in terms of my most recent announcement. I've decided on October as my set deadline/goal of when I want to be done with Clara and Claire. And I mean done with everything. October gives me plenty of time to get everything finished and ready for publication. And it also means that by November I'll be able to start on my next big project (via NaNo). It's a secret right now --and I won't reveal it until the release of Clara and Claire --but I definitely want to be done before November. Last year I couldn't really participate in NaNoWriMo because of our honeymoon (and hey I'm not complaining). But this year I really want to be joining in with my fellow writers so we can go through the madness together. 

It's been a crazy Wednesday, and this is my last task before heading to bed. I've updated some of the pages on the blog that I noticed hadn't been updated recently (my bad entirely). And I'll be coming back again later on this week to update you with more. 
Lindsey Richardson

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Part 2: Rewriting

I took a longer than intended break after I finished editing Clara and Claire. And today I finally got back into working on my book again. Despite that long break, I did spend a lot of time thinking about plot holes and different aspects of the book I needed to work on. Now I'm finally working on it again, and I'm calling this second part of the process "rewriting" --though obviously I'm not rewriting everything. This is the time for me to rewriting scenes that weren't strong enough, add on to scenes that were missing something, and get rid of parts in the story that just don't belong. It's the time for me to add in character backstory and relationships that might not have developed in the way I wanted them to. As I told you before there's still a lot of work to get through before I'm done. Today I went through all of chapter one again, despite before thinking I was entirely happy with it. But turns out I wasn't, and today it became a better and stronger chapter.
This journey has taught me so much. I might not have an editor, but I'm relying on myself (for now --later on I'll hopefully have beta readers) to get through this. And I'm not putting myself on a strict deadline because I want to do this right. This story is so important to me, and I want it to be a masterpiece. I want that breakthrough I had in September of 2015 --where I realized this is the book I want to dedicate myself to--to be more than just a breakthrough. I want this to be more than just "another book." I want this one to be my breakthrough novel that can reach more people all around the world. It's a big goal, it's a scary one... and sometimes I think it's downright impossible. But I'm being honest with you because that's what I want. I set big goals for myself as an author because I want to impact people's lives. I want Clara's story to reach people's hearts and souls.
I remember how many times I rewrote and edited Cursed With Power. And I know since my very first book I've learned so much. But for this story to be bigger than just "another story" it does need a lot of my time. It needs a lot of focus and patience and determination. Today I realized I'm glad I took that break after editing because now I know the book better than when I finished writing the first draft. I know the characters, and I know how I want to improve it and make it stronger than that first draft. Right now I can't say just how big of a change the rewriting process will be. If I had to guess I'd say a huge change because there's some many things I've expanded on and altered all for the better of a stronger more solid story.

Today I wanted to take the time to tell you where I am with this book. Because in the end I want to bring you the very best piece of work I can. And I'm willing to dedicate however much time that takes. No excuses, no shortcuts --just hard work and determination. Some days I might fall, but the next day I'll get right back up and start again. Some days I might not do as much, but the next day I'll put in double the work.
This is an even harder journey because I know where I want to go with this novel. Now it's up to me to make it happen. And I hope you'll join me for the ride.
Lindsey Richardson

Monday, April 11, 2016

Editing: Complete

This evening I finally did what I said I was going to do: finished editing. It has been a long process, but now at least a huge part of the process is complete. I've been wanting to talk about what's next in terms of what I need to do with this book to release it. 
Step 1 was editing the entire first draft (what you see in the picture above). I always have to have a hardcopy of my book to edit before I can even touch the copy on my computer. So sadly none of the edits are included in the file yet. Maybe I choose a slow way of getting it done, but this is the process I've always gone through with all of my books. (And since I don't have an actual editor it's solely me working on this).
The next part of this process is applying edits, and more importantly rewriting and adding content. Answers to questions, backstories that were missed out on, relationships that didn't develop properly, world building, and making sure the magic system is solid. So while I'm done editing, it still feels like I have a lot left to do. And I do --the first draft has a lot that needs to be added to it. But it's all totally manageable. It's after rewriting and adding content that I believe I'll be calling out once again for beta readers --some of which have already contacted me. More about that will be announced on my social media, and I'll likely be posting a sign up form as well.
As for when Clara and Claire will be released, I again cannot say. I have no idea --I'm working with vague timelines here. Looking at the calendar presently, I want to see if I can have everything ready for beta readers by June or July. That doesn't leave me with a lot of time, but that's the goal I want to work towards. If June or July isn't plausible then I can always add on another month or two --no big deal. I rather take my time with it than worry about rushing and putting too strict of deadlines on the work ahead of me.
Now after rewriting and beta readers, I need to work on interior formatting. The part I probably dread the most if we're being honest here. Paperback and ebook formatting needs to be completed, and I have't bothered too much with it (like usual) because I just wanted to focus on the story for right now. (I'll regret that later on this year.) I'm thinking of hiring someone to design the interior of my book to look fancy --I already have someone in mind so it's just a matter of having it all ready and (obviously) having the money for it.

There's a lot to look forward to and work towards --beta readers I'm especially excited for. I haven't shared this book with anyone. I've shared quotes and ideas, but I haven't revealed a single page to anyone. I can't wait to finally receive feedback, but there's definitely a lot of work remaining until I reach that point.
In the meantime I'm eager to start adding in new material and rewriting weaker scenes. As always I'll be uploading my progress via social media and (trying) to post more on here too. I realize I've been slacking in my blogger game this month --I end up getting too busy especially since I work on my book primarily at night (and then have no energy or time to blog). But I promise there's much more to share in these coming months, and now with editing out of the way it's time to get back to what I love the most: writing.
Coffee and motivation is welcome!
Lindsey Richardson