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Ho! Ho! Ho!

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Well, here I was, planning on finding another INKA to share, when something better to write about came along.

As noted in my previous post, t’is the Christmas season and time for gift-giving…(consider shameless plug to view my books on Amazon inserted here). It is also the time of year when results from certain book competitions are in. No, I didn’t win. But what I did receive was an interesting review of my book, Christmas House, by the judge who looked at it. Some of the comments were formulaic. That is to say, the judges were clearly provided some sort of rubric or planned answer sheet from which they chose a pre-worded response to how the book met/did not meet the established criteria. Two sections at the end of the review did allow for personal statements from the judge as to notable strengths and weaknesses. Even though Christmas House was not a prizewinner, the evaluation itself proved beneficial.

I’m proud and pleased to say that most of the comments considered my book satisfactory, and in a couple of areas–premise being one–even unique. My dialogue was appreciated, and overall, it was considered an enjoyable read. There were comments that there were some weak areas that could do with strengthening, particularly over a slow start and the roles of some secondary characters. However, the pace in general was all right, the story moved in an appropriate direction and ended leaving the reader quite satisfied. I am probably most ‘chuffed’, as the British say, over the comments on the appropriateness of the dialogue for an American English-speaking audience.

So, now, I have a predicament. I could leave the book alone, or I could go to work on an ‘expanded’ version, which would allow me to tweak and correct and amplify. I could replace the cover, which was noted as not being reflective of the story as much as it could be, and I could add some extra material such as baking and woodworking projects. And I could allow for more insight into the characters and maybe just some extra history with a reveal or two.

I could do that. I am going to have to weigh the desire to deliver the best possible story of Bret and Molly that I can against the fact that there are readers out there who have already read their tale. The story itself does not change; only more will be added, and it would be done (I hope!) with more style. A reader can read the second version after reading the first, or they can enjoy either one of them. However, if I do develop an expanded version, it will replace the edition offered currently.

This is a bit of a big decision, so if anyone has an opinion, I’d value it. Please just leave a comment.

On another Christmas-y note, I am a self-avowed Christmas nut, rather like Molly. And I am working on a Christmas epic fantasy titled Renegade Christmas. With luck, that will be finished next year and shopped around for traditional publishing. I know that means it’s a couple years before it meets the public, but that’s what I am aiming for.

In line with that, at our house, we are only partly decorated for Christmas at this point. As I was sharing with an online group, for us that means each room has at least one nativity, a Christmas tree, and a Santa, plus other sparkly Christmas decor. If you don’t believe me, just check the bathrooms!

Here are a few pictures from one Christmas some years back.

One group member in particular was amazed at people who go to such decorating and design lengths for the holiday. He remarked that his idea of Christmas decor was to drop an ornament on an avocado tree and call it a day. In tribute to him and other people who prefer restraint in their holiday decorations, I present:

Note the pickle-shaped ornament on the larger tree. The hanging of a pickle ornament on a Christmas tree is an old European tradition. The pickle is hidden in the branches, and the finder gets a prize (usually chocolate!)

Just a little housekeeping…

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I have a new article up on “Do You Know Where YOUR Story Is?”. It’s titled Admitting You Were Wrong and has to do with being able to face up to mistakes and fix them– in writing and other places as well.

Also, I’ll be working on a couple new INKAS to post. One post on Vignette, and another on Personal Narrative. These can be closely related. You can use the vignette style to create a personal narrative. But, check back soon or follow to get notifications to see what these two forms of writing are all about.

Meantime, Wendell says, “Write on!”

An Analogy of Sorts

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This is the second of three posts dealing with approaching the problem of sizeable revisions. The first post offered some straightforward methods to help you tackle the problem. This post takes a more whimsical approach. And for the professional’s opinion on handling developmental problems, please check out the post after this one. All three posts will go up on the same day.

This material also appears, with a slightly different introduction, on my substack: “Do you know where YOUR story is?”

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So, we’ve discussed some steps to take to get to work on making big revisions.

“But, what,” you say, “if this is a really big, extensive revision with tentacles of related material all over the place? Where do I start?”

Okay, this may seem weird, but it’s the analogy that occurred to me. Bear with me.

When I houseclean, it tends to be in giant gulps. Things being in the wrong place seems to be my biggest–and to be honest, easiest to solve–problem. But the idea of sorting out the belongings of seven rooms and getting them to their rightful places is daunting. For me, the general process goes like this.

1.   I start with one room, and I remove everything from it that doesn’t belong. Some items, the easy ones, I immediately put away. But others are not so easy. For those, I have to answer some questions.

  •    Who do they belong to?
  •    Does the owner want to keep them?
  •    If not, which trash disposal method is needed (regular or recycle)?
  •   If they want to keep them, where do they go?
  •    Do I need to put them away myself or create a pile for the owner to deal with (usually under threat of dire punishment if they don’t)?

These items usually end up at a neutral location, waiting to be sorted as these questions are answered. Some of them I already know are my responsibility, but I also know that more items like them await me in other rooms, So I hold off putting them away until I have them all together.

   2.   I go to the next room and repeat.

   3.  As I accumulate what I believe are all the items in a category (let’s go with socks) that go to one room, I take those socks to the room where they belong and either put them away or leave them there for the owner.   (Re #1.e, items like socks I might put away myself.) The items collected for someone else at the neutral location that I don’t handle remain in a pile for the owner to deal with upon notice.

   4.   Items that I know I’m putting away are piled until I need more sorting space, or until I am pretty sure they are all the things in that category. Or some other reason. This sounds a little capricious, but changing up how I work occasionally makes it easier.

  5. At last all items have been dealt with and put away, and all that is left for me to do is to nag someone else to take care of their stuff.

Tackling any big chore is tough. And of course, we were discussing changing and sorting story segments, not socks. The processes can be similar—start with the easy stuff, where you know what to do. Make decisions about where the words belong and which characters are responsible for them. Keep putting things where they belong until you are done.

The key is to organize a large task in a fashion that suits your mental/emotional needs and then go at it.

Apply the cliches if you want:

“Rome wasn’t built in a day.” 

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” 

“There is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.”

And how long did it take to build the pyramids anyway? Don’t despair, revision won’t take you that long. You can conquer it, and it actually does get easier. I have even heard writers say that revision is their favorite part of writing, because the words are already there and simply need to be fixed.  Good luck!

Be sure to read the previous post and the following one for more on dealing with Major revisions.