Come One, Come All, To DecNoEdMo!

[xXVampyrePrincessXx]

Put up the thread for next month on your suggestion, Cliff.

Because EVERYONE remembers specific posts from LAST DECEMBER... Right..?

~Amber~

[bdwilson]

Cliff, your updates are making me want to plow through my to be read pile, now

Originally Posted by Sarah G

And I still have cold, I've had it twice now in the past few weeks This means that I should be exempt over Christmas right?

I'd say so Editing with a cold doesn't sound like fun, especially a repeat cold.

Originally Posted by TNK

When I get done with this pass, I have a novella I need to get started editing. I'm sure I'll find more humorous mistakes in it.

At least it'll keep the process interesting

Originally Posted by xXVampyrePrincessXx

Because EVERYONE remembers specific posts from LAST DECEMBER... Right..?

Because of this, I had to go find last year's thread. Then I laughed

[Cliff Face]

Wow, has it been a year already?

[Cliff Face]

Okay... so I really need to edit chapter 16 today, as much as I don't really want to. Aside from that, I want to get caught up on my reading. If I can finish this current book today, I'll be back on track for 2 books per week. Only about 200 pages left to read...

The Christmas Creeper short can probably wait till tomorrow. I've already done 1 edit on it, and added the ending part. Still needs a title... And a few more edits. 5 days to get that done.

And plotting the epic can wait. I don't intend to write that for a few years at least.

[xXVampyrePrincessXx]

Originally Posted by Cliff Face

Wow, has it been a year already?

I know, it's so weird. >.> (I didn't have the motivation to wake up before 5:30 am this morning so it'd be the 18th for both of us. close enough)

~Amber~

[xXVampyrePrincessXx]

Originally Posted by bdwilson

Because of this, I had to go find last year's thread. Then I laughed

I actually didn't remember that until I went to go look for how many books I had this time last year, because I definitely remembered posting that somewhere... The date was close, so I thought why not?

I did notice that I wrote in that thread that my kindle would help me worry about space for books in my room... Tell it to the "where-the-fuck-do-I-put-you?" corner... ._.

~Amber~

[WKlein]

Today was a productive day... I edited/rewrote three more chapters of my novel. I'm trying to keep ahead of my two beta readers so that I don't have to turn over to them the previous, rather rough draft. The nice part of that is that it's keeping me motivated.

I really want to work on a story for this contest, though. I see some of you have multiple WIPs right... how on earth do you do that??

[Cliff Face]

Multiple WIPs... Well, I have them, but I'm not coping with all of them. I'm pretty much a "one at a time" person, although I do have a habit of not finishing something and then working on something else. Hence all the WIPs.

But this month, what I've been doing is focussing on a few projects.

1 just needed edits.
1 just needed to be written.
1 was a short story.
1 needed to be plotted.
Plus reading my TBR pile.

So aside from the short story, each project has needed something different - writing, editing, plotting - which is the only way I've managed it.

ETA: I have about 20 WIPs in total, though, so I've just been focussing on the pressing ones.

[Cliff Face]

Okay, so I just read chapter 16. It's gonna be a long edit for this one... Long chapter, plenty to change, a new scene to add. *sigh* On the plus side, after this it's just the epilogue, and then I can put this WIP away while I edit the other one.

ETA: Edited one scene, added one scene. I'm pretty much completely reworking the ending... I just hope this will all be worth it. It's slow going.

ETA2: It's been nearly 2 hours of editing, and I've only edited 5 pages. Added 500 words... Seems like more. This chapter is doing my head in, but it's getting there. Taking a break now, to read. I need the mental break from it.

ETA3: It took 3 hours, including reading time, to edit that chapter. *faceplant* I still need to re-read it to make sure I've got everything squared away... Just the epilogue left to do. Which I'll do tomorrow. For the rest of today, I'll be reading.

ETA4: Re-read the chapter. It's reading pretty well now... Much more exciting than the original, in any event. *wanders off to read*

[Cliff Face]

Well, I have about 120 pages left to read. Which means I've read about 90 today... So I basically need to more than double that to finish this book. And it's already 6pm. D'oh!

If I hadn't lost 4 hours to chapter 16, it might've been doable. Now, not so much.

ETA: 80 pages left. Yup, not finishing it tonight.

[WKlein]

Three more chapters edited/rewritten today. I have roughly 18 chapters left, so I've set myself the goal of finishing before the new year with this second draft, so that I can start fresh in January with working on some of the edits recommended by my beta readers. I'm not sure how feasible this actually will be, though, with the holidays in there. *fingers crossed* But, if I'm able to accomplish that, then I can spend the next two weeks hammering out a short story for the contest; wish I had known about it sooner so I wouldn't be cutting it so close.

[Cliff Face]

Go go go WK!

On my end, I just spent 1.5 hours wrapping Christmas presents. Well, okay, some of that time was spent digging out the big box o' Christmas stuff from the garage... It was buried under a bunch of precariously-placed items.

Anyway, all the wrapping is done now. I'm quite pleased - I managed to get everything done with the same type of paper, so they all look neat and tidy and unified and stuff.

65 pages left to read of this book. So I've only read 15 this morning... *sigh* Cooking lunch now, then I have to pop over to the shops, then edit my epilogue... Not sure where "read 65 pages" figures into that.

ETA: Oh, and I got a Christmas card from dad and stepmum in the mail today. It was a card that came with a DVD prepackaged. The DVD? "Inspector Gadget Saves Christmas". I can't remember the last time I saw Inspector Gadget. Probably about 20 years ago. Going to have to find time to watch that before Christmas Day... That's when I'll be ringing dad and stepmum.

It made me laugh when I saw that DVD in there. Not sure how old they think I am, but Inspector Gadget is classic.

[xXVampyrePrincessXx]

Finished reading a 7th book today. Probably going to start reading another one pretty soon.

~Amber~

[Cliff Face]

I still haven't finished reading book 6... Just haven't felt like doing anything much today. It's now 3pm, and I'm not sure what I'll get done.

ETA: Finished book 6. Torn between starting book 7 and editing my epilogue... It's 5pm, so I'm also thinking about dinner. Maybe read till I'm hungry, cook, eat, then see if I feel up to editing?

*looks at Christmas Creeper short* 4 days till I have to submit it... It's written, edited once. Need to make it sparkle. I'll have to think about it some more.

[Cliff Face]

Read nearly 50 pages of book 7. Never got around to editing... By the time I'd finished dinner, and considering it'd take a few hours to edit the epilogue, I decided I didn't feel like it. There's always tomorrow.

Logging off soon, but I'll read more. I'm re-reading "The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul" by Douglas Adams. I've only read it once before, and it's really funny already. Glad I pushed this book ahead of some others.

[EMaree]

Originally Posted by WKlein

Today was a productive day... I edited/rewrote three more chapters of my novel. I'm trying to keep ahead of my two beta readers so that I don't have to turn over to them the previous, rather rough draft. The nice part of that is that it's keeping me motivated.

I really want to work on a story for this contest, though. I see some of you have multiple WIPs right... how on earth do you do that??

Congrats on the progress, WK! That anthology looks intruiging, I might have to see if I can put together a story for it, but I suspect I'll be too busy with edits. Thank you for the link, though -- I've been looking for reputable anthology publishers as I'm trying to increase my short story writing skills.

Got a report back from the Scottish arts council, who do free critiques of local writers work in return for a nod in the acknowledgements. I'm too nervous to look at it! But the other half had a look and told me it's very good, and avoids any sugar-coating (gulp).

I think I'll wait until I'm finished this current pass and line-edit and then tackle their comments in the second pass in tandem with agent and beta comments. I just hope it's not too overwhelming.

Work's winding down for Christmas so I'm hoping there will be some more free time for revisions.

[bdwilson]

Made bit of progress this week. Starting going through the NaNo drafts of my current project, chopping out things I don't want to keep. I'm trying not to do any other editing right now, but occasionally failing

I'm pretty slow on any kind of editing, so I'm hoping by restricting this pass I can get through all the existing content by the end of the holidays. *crosses fingers*

[Cliff Face]

Just edited my Christmas Creeper short story a second time. It needs one more edit, I think, to liven up the language a bit. It still needs a title...

[xXVampyrePrincessXx]

Finished reading an 8th book. Going to start another one pretty soon.

~Amber~

[Cliff Face]

Read the epilogue of WIP#1. About to edit it. I don't think it'll take all that long, actually... A fair chunk of it will be getting deleted, and I need to tidy it up a bit, and maybe add a little to replace what was deleted. Apart from that, it's looking fairly straightforward.

Trying to decide on a few artistic choices for it, though. Like, "Do I want to reveal that this early in the series? Is that reveal even important?" Stuff like that. I'll probably limit the reveals... If they weren't important enough for the bulk of the novel, then they aren't important enough for the epilogue.

[AshleyEpidemic]

I envy you all. I ended up spending two weeks finishing up the second novel I started during nano. Then I started plotting short stories so I can dig into them when I get home in a couple days. I won't start editing until after the holiday.

I hope all of you have been doing well. It seems like people have been making progress.

[Cliff Face]

Speaking of progress... This editing pass of WIP#1 is OVER! Woohoo!

It's taken about 3 weeks, which is the longest an editing pass has ever taken me. I'm certain the book is better for it. The question is, "How much better?"

Going to read now. (I haven't read at all yet today.) Maybe do a little plotting for my epic fantasy. (Haven't touched that in days.) I think I'll leave the next edit of the short story till tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, I think I'll go through WIP#1 and change where the chapters end (and thus how many chapters there are). Some chapters were over 4k before I edited, and then I added 500-1000 words to them. Far too long for a single chapter, and a complete nightmare to edit in a single day.

After that... WIP#2 needs an editing pass. It'll be good to get a break from WIP#1.

*pours a celebratory coffee* I finished this editing pass!

ETA: All told, I lost 7k off my word count in this editing pass. It's now at 57k and change. I might add words on the next pass, though. I won't be changing the plot again. If I did that, I'd be editing this thing for the next 4 years! So hopefully in the next pass I can go further into the characters' thoughts and emotions etc. and make the sentences sparkle a bit more, and add some comedy to some of the heavier parts. (It's meant to be comedic UF, after all.)

[Cliff Face]

Just checked, and I didn't start editing till December 3rd. So that means it's been 19 days for me to edit 16 chapters and an epilogue. Not all that bad, but it means I did take a few days off.

In other news, I tried playing my Wii, which was looking lonely, only to find my remote doesn't work anymore. Tried changing the batteries, and the Power button still doesn't do anything. This was a brand new remote at the start of the year, after my old one crapped out on me.

I think that if you don't use the remote for a long time, they just up and die. That's so annoying. Don't have the money to replace it, either, so I won't be playing the Wii anytime soon.

I kind of wish I'd bought an XBox360 instead... Their controllers tend to last a long time. Plus, better games.

[EMaree]

Originally Posted by AshleyEpidemic

I envy you all. I ended up spending two weeks finishing up the second novel I started during nano. Then I started plotting short stories so I can dig into them when I get home in a couple days. I won't start editing until after the holiday.

I envy you! I find it extremely difficult to write short stories, I have trouble thinking up a plot for that size of story.

Congrats on finishing the pass on WIP#1, Cliff Face! 19 days is a fantastic rate.

Originally Posted by Cliff Face

In other news, I tried playing my Wii, which was looking lonely, only to find my remote doesn't work anymore. Tried changing the batteries, and the Power button still doesn't do anything. This was a brand new remote at the start of the year, after my old one crapped out on me.

I think that if you don't use the remote for a long time, they just up and die. That's so annoying. Don't have the money to replace it, either, so I won't be playing the Wii anytime soon.

I kind of wish I'd bought an XBox360 instead... Their controllers tend to last a long time. Plus, better games.

I have rechargable battery packs for my XBox and my Wii controllers. Those things are a godsend.

[Cliff Face]

Originally Posted by EMaree

Congrats on finishing the pass on WIP#1, Cliff Face! 19 days is a fantastic rate.

I have rechargable battery packs for my XBox and my Wii controllers. Those things are a godsend.

Thanks.

And yeah, I may have to invest in the rechargable packs at some point. Not that I can afford them right now, though, and I hardly use the Wii... It wasn't my best purchase.