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Preparation and Thought

I'm getting ready for NaNoEdMo — the next step after NaNoWriMo. You know: that 50,000 words of gobbledygook you wrote in November. (I didn't do NaNoWriMo this year, but I do have some shelved novels from prior years.)

The idea behind NaNoEdMo is to commit to putting in a big block of editing time and logging that time weekly. In order to complete NaNoEdMo, you must log 50 hours of editing time over the course of the month.

See www.nanoedmo.net for details. I just signed up.

I have a really flawed manuscript I'm considering for the project. Here's my game plan.
1. Determine whether the book is even worth saving. If the answer is "no," I have another project I can edit. I won't know until I re-read and journal.
2. Think before I write. Consider what big changes will help the book and write down some strategies, rather than jumping in and fiddling with individual words and sentences
3. Be willing to change. Rather than tweaking parts that are not quite right, be willing to totally rewrite them. The written word isn't a finite resource; total rewrites might take about the same amount of time as picky little tweaking, and result in a much better final product.

Your game plan may vary, but do have one. None of us can afford to spin our wheels for 50 hours.

Your Assignment

Do you have something big that could use 50 hours of reworking? Dig it up!
Go visit nanoedmo.net and check out the rules