Learning to Choose My Words

I am certain that the hardest part of writing is revising your work. I have finished the first draft of my book. I am now at the hard part. Revising it into something coherent. I printed out the first draft and sat down with it. Well with parts of it because this was thick. 360+ pages thick. And I had to edit it.

That isn't the hard part. The hard part is when you start reading what you wrote and you realize that you have to delete what you've slaved over. My finger hovers nervously over the delete button while I wonder, Does this really need to go? The answer is almost always, Yes. After trying to reword numerous ways and even reading it out loud to myself, it is time to admit that it just doesn't work. It is a heart breaking experience to look at the words you put down with love going the way of the trashbin. It was hard, as hard as putting my kids on the bus the first day of school was. But I did it, even though I wanted to cry.

And you know what? Unlike the kids starting school, which didn't get easier as the next one went, this did. I learned to look at the words on the page and see them as either important to the story I want to tell, or not. I learned that the delete button can be my friend.

I am hoping that this is a good sign. If I can delete what I wrote while thinking, God, did I write that? then this has to get easier the more I do it. Doesn't it? Anyone out there going through revisions for the first time? Anyone else suffering the trauma of sending your words spinning into the great trashbin on the computer?

Diving Into the World of Writing

Like so many of you aspiring authors out there, I jumped and then looked at where I was going. I love to write. I have been writing in secret since I was a teenager and have only recently thought about writing as a career. Okay, so in my high school paper I put being a published author as my life goal, I was joking (I think). I digress, I started sharing my writings. First it was just my sister, who gave me tremendous feedback but heck, she's my sister, she has to give me terrific feedback or I'll tell everyone her secrets. Then I joined the Avon FanLit competition and was amazed at some of my feedback there. I was in a Sally Field kind of daze when I came in 9th place during the last round. I didn't win, but I persevered and accomplished something I never thought I would do. I let other people read my writing and some of them liked it. Some of them hated it, true enough, but I am an optimist and perfer to look at the glass half full, some of them liked it.

I joined a critique group. I wrote a book in two months. I am facing the scary possibity of searching out an agent. That is so scary to me, I have nightmares over the agents reading some of my work, or just my query letters and having themselves a fun filled time of laughing over it. During my reading and research on agents, they said I need to get my name out there. I needed a webpage. ACK! I can barely format my manuscript. The thought of a webpage actually causes hives to break out on me. Not a pretty sight. I am doing this in small steps. I am going to blog, see how that goes, and then leap from there.

Wish me luck in my endeavors, I have a feeling I am going to need alot of it. Any aspiring authors out there who would like to share their experiences? Any advice for a newbie romance author in mid-dive?