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I’m doing the blog at the beginning of the day instead of the end so I’ll be sure and get it done today.
Yesterday I did twenty pages on the novel-lite, or is it novellite. Since Jon coined the word to mean a book that is too long to be a novella, but not as long as my usual books, we can decide the spelling for it ourselves. Jon prefers the hyphen, and I prefer without. What do you guys think?
But twenty pages in the morning, so very soon the novellite will either be done in record time or it’s a novel. I’m still not sure which and I’m still happy with that. I have no idea why the uncertainty of it isn’t bothering me, but it isn’t. Maybe because I’m having too much fun to worry about it. Maybe.
One of the interesting things I learned from working on the original script with Jon for the comic book prequel to GUILTY PLEASURES was that in the afternoon if I work on something new and different, I’m fresher the next morning for the first draft book stuff. So, as an experiment I’m going to try and work on the rewrite in the afternoon and continue to work on the new Anita book in the morning. Now, first draft of Anita and Merry are very hard to do back and forth. Because it’s hard to clear one character voice from your mind, but this draft of FROST is basically looking for notes. I’m putting in eye color, physical description, checking my Gaelic spelling, or letting someone else do it. Gaelic spelling also changes from region to region, so the spelling can change with what book you pick up to use and who they spoke to in what part of the isles.
There are about four scenes that may need rewriting beyond just notes. I’m sure about what to do in the scene with the lawyers, but the other scenes are still percolating in my subconscious.
Since I’m still not a hundred percent certain how to rewrite, or even if two of the scenes need rewriting at all, I think I’ll let it set. Writing a novel for me is often like painting a portrait or a landscape. It’s not what you’re painting but the technique. The layers of technique and color and wash that go into a painting are more what I’m referring to. All you artists out there will go well she’s pretty vague about it. Yeah, I am. It’s been awhile since I had art in college. It’s been awhile since I was an art editor and worked with someone who actually did lovely water colors. I remember the talks, and what it looked like, but not what the nomenclature is. Sorry, but every job has its vocabulary. The fact that I cannot draw has always been a disappoint to me.
The rewrite will have several layers, and I can do the easy one first, and still keep happily along on the new book. When I get into the meat and potatoes of the scenes I’ve decided do need redoing, then I may have to take a few days away from the Jason story to just finish up Merry. Jason’s voice is very strong in my head right now and I think he’d interfere with any other first draft stuff, and extensive rewriting is sometimes very close to that for me.