Balancing different projects

Good morning dear readers,

Today’s blog post is all about different ways you can balance different projects you have on the go. These tips I’m giving you today are all things I have learned throughout my writing life. I always tell myself I’m only going to work on one thing at a time but it never works out that way. Even now as I sit here and type this blog post I have four different writing projects on the go. I’m in the second last edit of the first Drako and Luna novel, I’m in the middle of planning two different novels. One of those novels is the second novel in the Drako and Luna series and the other is a vampire novel set within the world that Drako and Luna live. The last project I have on the go is another vampire novel I have to edit. Before I get into my tips I just want to say I don’t believe it is the best idea to work on so many projects, but if you are like me and just can’t see to pick one then sit back and enjoy.

The first tip is to set a time frame to work on each project. This way for that whole frame of time you are forced on one thing and not jumping between everything. What I try to do is set different days for each project this way I know I have lots of time to work on them without trying to fit them all in one day. But if you do need to work on them all on the same day set a timer each time to sit down to work on a project, this way you know when to move on and stay forced on one project at a time.

My next tip is to write out a list of all the sets that need to be done to complete each project. This way when you have all our projects wrote out in steps you can work out how long each one will take, based on how many steps are in each one. This tip goes along with the next tip I have to share with you.

Tip three is to set a deadline for each project. Make sure that the deadline is far enough away that you won’t stress yourself out trying to get all of them done. Also don’t just set a deadline for the whole project but each step from the list you created in tip two.

The final tip and the one I think is the most important is to work on the most important project first. Or at least put in the most time working on that one. This way you are not going to worry about not getting it done on time. If possible put everything else on the back burning while you work on that project.

I hope these tips help you get all your projects done on time.

Editing your novel

Good morning dear readers,

In today’s post, we are going to talk about editing your novel. When it comes to editing there are many different ways to go about it. In this post I will be talking about the way that I edit my novels, I have just finished editing one of my novels this year and thought it would be the best time to explain how I did it. I normally do anywhere between three and six edits before I send it off to be published. I know that may seem like a lot of edits but it is worth the time.

The first step I do to start my edits is giving the whole novel a read through, making notes of anything that needs to be fixed. I don’t start making changes yet, just take notes. Depending on how busy I am I can get this edit done in about two days to a week. This edit is important because it lets you see the whole novel, any plot holes, and scenes that take away from the story. Doing the read through also stops you from spending a lot of time on one scene only to find out that the scene takes away from the story as a whole.

The second edit I do is the scene edit, this is where I highlight or underline the scene in the novel that needs work. I check my notes from edit one while doing this to make sure I don’t miss any. The scene could be anything from adding a few choice words or a complete rewrite. I use different colours depending on what type of work that scene needs that way one look at the novel and I know how much work needs to be done. The time frame for this edit depends on how many scenes need editing and how busy I am with life. Then I retype the whole novel fixing the scenes as I come to them.

Once all the scenes are where I want them to be I move on to the fourth edit, the character, and world edit. I look over my notes from edit one and mark any places that I need to work on one of my characters. I make sure they are acting the way they should be in each and every scene. I also make a list of each character and in the chapter making note of how much they speak or are shown. That way I know if any one character is over powering the others. Once that is done I move on to the world, I make sure the world is explained enough throughout the book without making the novel boring to read. I also make sure that the world is scary enough without actually scaring the reader (my novel is a dark fantasy with horror aspects). I normally do these two edits together because I don’t normally have a lot of edits to do for these two edits. Sometimes if I find I have a lot to fix in one or the other I will break it up into two different edits.

The last edit I do before I send the novel to beta readers is a spelling and punctuation check. I run the spell checker on my computer before printing off my novel again to read through it again. You will find more mistakes when you are reading on paper than you will by reading off the screen. I do this edit chapter by chapter so that it breaks it up and doesn’t seem like so much work. When I’m done with the check I will fix the mistakes in the document. This is the edit that takes the longest by far. It depends on how many chapters my novel has and how many mistakes on in each chapter.

Quick editing tips:

• Always find a way to make editing fun

• Use colours to group different edits together

• Create some kind of editing check list to keep you on track

• Set dead lines for not only the whole editing process but for each edit as well

Quote of the day

It is perfectly okay to write garbage-

as long as you edit brilliantly

— C.J. Cherryh