I’m Back!…and Dealing with Revision Woes

I’m Back!…

and Dealing with Revision Woes

I know, it’s been FOREVER since I last blogged…but I have a good excuse! In the last year, I finished law school, moved from New York to Pennsylvania, took the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bar exam, passed both exams, moved to New Jersey, and started a new job in New York at a fabulous corporation. I also self published a poetry anthology and signed a contract for a second novella with The Wild Rose Press! *pshew* Now do you see why I didn’t have time for blogging? But the good news is…I’M BACK!



So to kick off my fabulous new, hopefully consistent blog, I want to gush a bit about RWA Nationals. This year, RWA Nationals was hosted in the bright lights and bustling city of New York. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to participate in the conference as an actual attendee. I did, however, work the crowd at the Marriott Marquee and managed to score tons of requests for my YA Urban Fantasy. Yeay, right?



Here is the kicker. Now that the post conference fabulousness has worn off, I am now in…DUN DUN DUN…REVISION WOES!



That’s right, revision woes, the crazy sensation you get when you feel like your entire manuscript stinks because every sentence has something wrong with it…and there is so much revising left to do!



The good news is, I am a pro at getting through revision woes because I work as a freelance editor in my very little spare time, and I edited for agents for years through law school. So how do I get through revision woes? Here is my five step plan of action that I hope can benefit you if you suffer the same problem:



1. Sit your butt in that chair. You won’t get your revisions done if you don’t sit down to do them. Carve out time in your day, no matter what you have to do, so you can take care of your revisions. Even though laundry may seem like a more attractive alternative, you have to deal.









2. Take breaks from the project. No one is asking you to spend every waking moment on your revisions…not even all of your writing time. Revisions seem like less of a heinous project if you have something else in the wing helping you stay excited. Split your writing time in half: revisions and new writing. It’ll keep you going.



3. Have a plan of action. Don’t go into revisions without a road map. You’ll end up doing twice as many revision sets as you’ll need. Start by making a list. My list goes something like: revision set 1, plot edits. Revision set 2, critique group edits. Revision set 3, writing edits, grammar and punctuation. These lists then are broken down further. For example, under writing edits I’ll have “show, don’t tell” and “avoid passive voice.” Under grammar edits, I’ll have “overused words” and I’ll list the words that I tend to be obsessive about.



4. Take your time. This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. You’ll spend months on your revisions so you need to accept that fact right from the beginning. If you’re in a time crunch, make sure that you just double up the amount of hours you focus on revision. If you rush, you’ll get sloppy and you’ll miss things.



5. Find/Replace is your friend. I can’t stress this one enough. Don’t spend excessive amounts of hours searching for every time you use the word “that” or “awkward” or “titillating.” Use the CTRL+F function as often as you can. If you need to change your character’s name, the CTRL+F and replace function is a great tool. I also use this function for finding sections in my book that I know need work. For example, under “Plot Edits” I always go to the scenes where my hero and heroine are alone and speaking with each other because I almost always rush those scenes. So I’ll remember a word or a sentence in the scene and use the CTRL+F function for that.



Remember, this is just my advice and if it doesn’t work for you, then that’s fine. But make sure you find a system that does. Going into revisions blind or avoiding revisions until you get a request is a bad idea…not like I’ve ever had that problem…*cough*



I hope everyone is well and happy! Happy Writing/Reading/Enjoying Whatever!



<3 Nisha