Merinda's Meanderings

Just a few days from Nanowrimo. I’m starting to get excited, though I still don’t have much of an idea of my plot besides mad scientists and cliches and vague steampunk ideas. For some reason I’ve decided to write something that’s vaguely steampunk, though I’ve got no real idea what that means. Also I took a dare from a friend to include a male ballet dancer, so that’s Victor Beauchamp, my male MC’s, day job. There will be some romance, and probably some scifi, and I’m afraid it’s just going to turn into a colossal mess, but hey, it’s nanowrimo, so who cares.

Also I got an eeePC, so I can write on the go:

That’s my eeePC (running eeexubuntu) on top of my compaq presario for a size comparison. I broke the hinges on my laptop, so it’s no longer really portable. I also got a portable DVD player case for it (it’s the same size), so I can really take it on the go.

I have resources up there in the links, don’t forget. And if anyone knows of any other resources or links, feel free to leave a comment. Let’s get ready to rumble!

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bonus: I sent a suggestion to mental floss for their “Feel Art Again” blogpost and they took it. Click to read more about one of my favorit painters: John Martin

Looks like I’m getting past the easy editing and into some of the tougher stuff. I just demolished a section I really liked in the first draft. Half of it I switched to the other POV, and the other half I just deleted, because now it’s not necessary; I already show the same thing earlier.

It’s rarely fun, or easy, to hack at your own work. I find I enjoy editing other peoples stuff more, probably because I can be as liberal with the delete key as I want to be, without feeling attached to the words. Of course this is also why I save each draft as its own file, so the scene I liked still exists in its old form, as well as its newer one.

I suppose thats one of the things to like about modern technology. It’s easy to copy and paste from one draft to another, and to save things without taking up copious shelf space. Of course on the downside if your work exists only as bits of data there other hazards.

Which reminds me, I need to do a through backup.

Although one thing I’ve learned, since I habitually send parts or whole copies of my stories to my friends via email, is that (at least with gmail) a copy remains in my sent folder. I actually not too long ago recovered part of a story I’d feared lost because it was in my sent emails. Yay for technology!

And now this post about editing has wandered into technology. Lemme just grab the wheel and get it back onto the road I started down.

Editing is one of those things that isn’t fun, but must be done. But it’s also rewarding when you step back and look at your work and realize that it’s better now that it was. Friends are also useful for the process, especially if you’re like me and have constant then/than, your/you’re, its/it’s problems. Least once you are aware of those things you almost always get wrong it makes it easier to catch them!

When it comes to editing remember: Omit needless words.