I Conquered the Beast

(And when I say beast, I mean my wickedly long but beautiful baby--my first novel.)

I've spent the last two-and-a-half month's, several hours each day, cutting and polishing The Rowaness of Shalott.

Have you ever stared at a computer screen for so long that your eyes start crossing? I have and, let me tell you, it's a little bit freaky!

What I learned from this mega revision:

• I may have thought my beginning was brilliant, but I didn't really understand how well it worked (and that it needed lots of fixing) until I wrote the end of my novel.
• I may have thought my ending was brilliant, but I didn't really understand how well it worked (and that it needed lots of fixing) until I finished this long revision.
• The best way I learned what was and wasn't working in my book was to read it. (Duh, I know, but I'm talking about reading--and not editing--it in as little sittings as possible. For me, that was four days.)
• MCs get sassier with more attention. Villains become more sympathetic.
• It is possible to love two fictional men at the same time (okay, I already knew this).
• My characters can still surprise me (yes, Arthur, I'm talking about you).
• I still believe in and love this story--more so than ever!

Some stats about my drafting and revision process so far:

• Started writing the first version (contemporary, two POVs, set in Alaska, no Arthurian stuff) in December of 2009
• Bagged the earlier version and started writing the Arthurian version in the summer of 2010
• Finished my first draft in November of 2011 (two-thirds of it were written in Oct. and Nov.)
• Finished this mega revision YESTERDAY (April 24, 2012)!
• Original word count: 141,320 (not to mention 4,000 words I cut before drafting the last two-thirds)
• Revised word count: 98,972
• I cut 42,348 words! (almost as long as a NaNo novel)
• Original page count: 490
• Revised page count: 362
• I cut 128 pages! (That might not seem like a lot, but it SO is.)

Anyway you do the math, I feel awesome! And I've totally owned my writing process, which is overwriting to draft, and then cutting to revise (though, I did have to rewrite sections of the beginning and end).

I know there will still be revisions to come with new beta readers, and hopefully one day an agent and editor, but for now I will breathe a big fat sigh of relief because I did one of the hardest things by hacking this book to below 100k.