O Happy Day

Today, I get to revise.
I will . . .

. . . rewrite the opening of a picture book ten different

Fresh eyes

How do you find fresh eyes to read through a manuscript?

Don’t claim it. One trick I’ve heard is to put another writer’s name on it and

Endless Revisions?

How Many Times Do you Revise?
When do novel or picture book revisions ever end? I’m always a new person, with a bit more knowledge and a bit more life under my belt. I could always make changes to the story. When do you know it’s time to submit your baby?

My Best. When I’ve done everything [...]

Changes on this Blog

Things are changing!
Over the next month, I’ll be changing the looks of things. If you notice something wrong, or you can’t find something, please let me know! Besides spiffing up the looks, I’m changing the name slightly from Revision Notes to Fiction Notes, which will better reflect what I write about.
If you receive this [...]

Transitions

Transitions: Filling in the Time Line
I’m at a tricky place in my revision where I need a good transition. There’s a time gap. Certain events need to take place in late October and November, but I’m at about the 4th of July on the story’s time line. I need to get on with the story [...]

Measuring Progress Poll Results

Last week, I asked how you measure the progress of revising your novel, or of a writing session. Here’s the results:
Word Count and Page Count Indicate Progress
Word Count edges out Page Count by one vote. It seems the ease of counting words with word processors has made Word Count one of the easiest statistics [...]

Shrunken Picture Book

How I Shrunk my Picture Book Manuscript – and Why I’ll Do It Again!
by Lee Wind
At a schmooze of the SCBWI Tri-Regions of Southern California, discussion ranged far and wide, pulling info and tips from many sources. Lee Wind showed a shrunken manuscript of a picture book, complete with glitter, colors and stickers. The report [...]

Measuring Progress

How do you measure the progress of a writing project?
Since people are working on the Summer Revision Smackdown, here’s a timely poll. You can vote for up to two answers. Please leave a more extensive answer in the comments.
[poll id="3"]

current stories

Stories You Might Find Interesting

Janni talks about her revision process.
I’m featured on the Cuppa Jolie Blog in conjunction with the Summer Revision Smackdown.
Have you heard this? Dave Eggers has taken Maurice Sendak’s classic, Where the Wild Things Are and has written a 300+ page novel! It went from 324 words to 324 pages? Wow! [...]

muttering

Re-Reading: The Basic Revision Strategy
I’m always amazed at how much the revision process depends on re-reading what you wrote.
It’s an obvious statement, of course. Yet, when I ask people about their revision process, re-reading is seldom mentioned. It’s one of those assumed things.
Suggestions for Re-reading to Re-envision

Re-read an entire section, not just half a page. [...]