Revising

Well, I'm not done. But I'm revising.

I got to the black moment, dear readers. I got there and I went, "huh."

I assure you that one is not meant to just say "huh" at the black moment of a book. Something had obviously gone wrong. As I've mentioned here, I stop when my characters have lost their path. Usually, if I find the story's not feeling right or has completely derailed, I need to go back before I can go forward.

So, I stopped. But instead of carrying on like a ninny, flailing about in misery, I fast-forwarded through that part and just decided to check out my characters.

Alas, I've found where they got off track. It's a bit more involved than I'd hoped, so I figured I might as well go through the middle of the book and wrestle it into submission. Then I can write my black moment and my resolution.

Anyway, almost done. Technically, I'm just about done with the first draft and in the middle of the first structural pass of revising.

Which only leaves a couple more structural passes of revising, a couple passes to layer, and then a final pass for word choice and grammar.

Wait, was I optimistic at the beginning of this post?

Oh. Right.

My reaction at my black moment applies to this too, I guess.

Huh.

So, tell me, have you hit "The End" only to find it felt more like a beginning than an ending? When do you feel that burst of accomplishment when you're writing?

Going with the Flow or "Is This a Mudslide?"

I'm at 70K words for my WIP!

WHoot!!

I can feel the end. My storyboard says I have seven scenes to write. There's no reason why I can't finish this by the end of the month. I've been so distracted by it, particularly this past month, that I'm ready to take a break and fill the well.

At this point in the story, my fingers keep moving over the keys but I don't even know what's coming out and onto the page. I don't even know if I make sense any longer. But I know that if I don't just get the scenes out there, I'm going to be stuck here in the mire forever. (Pause for dramatic swoon.)

So, I'm plugging along and assuming that sometime in October or early November I'm going to dig back into these revisions and shake my fist and beat my breast.

But for now, I'm going with the flow.

Look out below!

How do you feel at the end of a manuscript? Have you ever got to the point where you just don't know which side is up and you don't even care anymore?