I'm rather dubious of the section of dialogue I just inflicted upon my word processor. At least this isn't supposed to be the final revision.

Anybody up for a beta? I've got a 3500 word Star Trek crack!fic up for grabs, if you're in the mood for Kirk/McCoy wedding hijinks.

Maybe I can knock out revised chapter 10 and 11 tonight. They are in the reading over phase. Then I really need to do a bit of work on revised chapter 3 before getting on with 12.

I've been bleeding words like crazy. The end of 10 corresponds to the end of chapter 4 in the draft. My revised word count is about 19,000. The word count in the draft is 29,579. Scenes are going down in flames everywhere.

I think only about three sentences survived chapter 4 more or less intact. It is so much tighter in the revision.

Shoot I just realized there is a continuity error at the end of 9 / beginning of 10. Very minor, but it won't sync up with the end of 10.

Where I Write

I have a massive bookshelf in the same room, but it's not right next to me. My 28" monitor has probably ruined me for using a laptop, especially when revising.

I like the differences -- some spaces are very clean, some are totally cluttered. I'm not counting books as clutter, though.

I like writing on my laptop, but I also started writing longhand, so I'm used to writing wherever I want to. And I still like that.

I actually like writing with headphones on, and in the midst of some kind of activity, like at a bookstore or down on the porch with the kids in and out. When it's too quiet and I'm alone, it's too easy to lose my focus, weirdly.

For whatever reason, I've discovered I do better if I start writing out the story longhand for the first page or so and then I'm good to switch over to a keyboard. Not sure why that works, but it's what I end up doing every single time. The only time I ever did everything longhand completely was when I was writing research papers for school. Also, I do my best writing after midnight, of either kind.

I ALWAYS start a story as notes, scribbled ideas longhand in a notebook. It feels ... more intimate that way, maybe?

Or possibly less committed.

Yeah, like it's got a reality besides electrons on my screen. Paper gives it heft and smell and "OMG, I wrote something."

Paper gives it heft and smell and "OMG, I wrote something."

That's what my laser printer is for.