Rewriting vs. Revision

Alright, first things first. I hit the 50k word mark for NaNoWriMo last night. November 17, baby! Averaged almost 3,000 words a day.

And while that’s exciting and all, what’s really great is that I have another finished draft of my novel.

I don’t mean it’s perfect or ready for querying in its current form. I mean that the rewriting phase of this novel is over. I’m not going back and adding another 40k words after cutting 30k. No more changing plot points around, re-configuring the story, or re-outlining.

Draft 3 is my workable final draft and what comes next is revising, not rewriting.

And boy does it feel good!

I’m going to have to go through this MS several times, hunting for specific things. In fact, I’ve started a list of things to consider as I’m reading and re-reading my manuscript while editing, including continuity, description of setting, and removing filtering. Still a lot of work, but I see the progress.

But what does that mean for NaNoWriMo? Am I done?

No.

In fact, I’m about to do several hours of online sprints with my critique group. Writing is a habit and I have to keep it going. If NaNoWriMo teaches you one thing, it’s that making writing a habit can and should be done.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I want to submit to Three Crows Magazine, so I will be working on my short story for them. It’s already halfway written, though, so we will see what I do once that’s done and there’s still 10+ more days of NaNoWriMo left.

How about you guys? What’s your wordcount like? Have you been finding the time and forging the habit? I’m posting sprints from time to time on my Twitter, so hop into one if you catch one!

A.P. ThayerComment