Life, Revisions & Agent Blogs (IWSG)

Hiya folks! Happy March to y'all. Last month I spoke about how miserable things were. Friends - they stayed so freaking miserable. I say "Happy March" because in com
parison February it would have to be happy or it would have broken the internet. Or something... apparently that happens a lot. (The dress is white and gold O.O and so was the llama! o.O O.o).

I didn't really get anything resolved until last week. It took a lot of prayer, and getting over some SERIOUS nerves to handle the situation. Except that it was the reasonable response for any adult - I sort of feel like I should get a medal :p Anyway, now that I'm no longer vacillating between the pits of despair and the rage of the machine - now I reside in a fluffy cloud of meditation and reason - I'm peeking into my writing.

I sort of got royally stuck on a scene. I'm not sure what to do with it. I almost want to get rid of it - except it's not really one of those scenes you can get rid of. :/ But when I find myself in places like this I always wonder - if I don't want to write it (or in this case revise it).... then wouldn't that mean that no one would want to read it? I think that once I start working on it again, I will get back in the swing and get interested - but what I'm hoping for is some advice. I asked last month and got some good responses - but I want more! More! More I say!

What are your best revision tips? What are your favorite things about revision? What helps you revise to a pretty polish? 

While, I haven't been working on my book a ton this month - I have still kept in on the writing world. My favorite way to do that is to read agent blogs. Right now there are a few that I follow - but my absolute favorite is Janet Reid. I like her voice and her personality. I also love her commenters. There's gold in them their thoughts. If you aren't already reading some agent blogs I recommend you take advantage :)

May your March month be a happy month!

She May Be Zombie (IWSG)

She Lives!

You may think I am speaking of myself, and while coincidentally that's true, I actually speak - no rejoice in the rising from the dead of my dear friend and favorite writer - the Inkscratcher, herself! - R.M. Whitaker. This dear woman is a dear friend with a talent that I can only dream of achieving. To give you an idea of how rad this woman is - her hobby writing in high school had other writers asking if they could buy her stories so they could publish them. Pretty rockin' awesome.

Well, my dear friend has been on something of a writing hiatus. She's been off gallivanting the world, doing good, living life and rockin' it all. While I've been impressed, proud and happy for her, I could practically giggle with delight  to know that she is warming up her fingers again, and spreading her delicious talent in print form. I absolutely recommend you go and meet her. Click and say hi!

Needless to say, her resurrection post inspired me to climb out of my earthy tomb as well. You see - I could use some help and there is no better place to go than my dear IWSG. You see, divine inspiration - that only sometimes gentle but always correct "nudger" - came to me a couple months ago, smiled kindly and pushed me with not a bit of sheepishness right out of one project and back into another.

Last I spoke here on the interwebs I was working on writing Book 2 (working title Disbanded). I worked on it through fall continuously, if slowly. My determination was firm and I happily finished POV one, and had moved onto POV 2. I got miserably stuck, but Determination kept me hitting my head against the book cover trying to knock works out of my noggin and onto the page. Then came that smiling "nudger". 

I can't deny that it was something a relief, when I got that distinct impression sending me back to start edits of Book 1 (working title Unbanded). However, I didn't realize just what I was getting myself into. I'm being humbled and discovering that revision is hard. I feel like I'm working at a snails pace. I'd naturally hoped that much of my book (because of my obviously and overwhelming talent *now hangs head in shame*) would need good edits, but not necessarily HUMONGOUS re-writes. I admit this with gratitude that I can hide on this side of my screen from the amused "I could have told you that" expressions that you experienced folks have every write to smile my way. 

Because here I am, barely into my book and re-writing most of what is there. It's both exciting and exhausting. I'm making it better than I could have hoped in some cases, but also suffering through the re-positioning and re-filming with my author-cam.

So, while in my meeker state I want to know what you know - or rather:

What do you wish you'd known before your first major revision? What did you not do the first time you revised that you have never forgotten to do again because it's that freakin' amazing? What did you do that first time that you will never do again? Send me your expertise!