6 Things I Learned Writing And Editing A Novel In Six Months

by Widdershins

I’m pretty sure I’ve never done a ‘list-cicle’, so here we go my first and last … list!

Heh, the bastards are never really ‘DONE’ though, are they?

Mrs Widds and I will do a basic line edit/read-through, and then … depending on whether we find any clangers, it’s FORMAT TIME.

Here’s my list …

1 – I can write 2000+ words a day, (in a couple of hours sometimes!!!) and still have a life, and a relationship.

2 – I can write when I don’t have a clue what’s going to happen next, but trust that it will all make sense by the end. (and it did!)

3 – I can write when I have a migraine, vertigo, a migraine, sciatica, a migraine, an allergic reaction to the Covid vaccine, a migraine, emergency dental work, arthritic joints, (looking at you, knees) a migraine …

4 – I can write during a 42°C soul-crushing heatwave

5 – I can write when I’m So. Fucking. Exhausted. From #2 that I can barely focus.

6 – I am a Writing Titan!

Bonus – Always, always, keep a print copy. Always.

Always

Always

Extra Bonus – and apropos of nothing in particular, I found Lawrence of Arabia on YouTube.

34 comments on “6 Things I Learned Writing And Editing A Novel In Six Months”

  1. ChrisJamesAuthor says:
    06/07/2021 at 2:36 AM

    Congrats! (No way could I write in that heat!!!)

    Liked by 1 person

    • Widdershins says:
      06/07/2021 at 2:26 PM

      I used to turn on our little portable A/C when the temp was around 26C … but during that horrible heat, I changed the thermostat settings so the poor thing wouldn’t expire, and was very happy to be enjoying a balmy 32C … it’s all relative, eh? 😀 …of course, I’m back to grumbling about it being 29C-ish today! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  2. coldhandboyack says:
    06/07/2021 at 4:09 AM

    It’s all true. Great post.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Widdershins says:
      06/07/2021 at 2:22 PM

      Thanks 😀 … I feel like a bit of a lost sock (in the washing machine of life) right now, after such an intense time, but book 2 is already taking shape … so it’s a couple of days to breathe, then working on the line editing and book 2 at the same time.
      My plan is to be comfortable doing both by the end of the next six months … rinse and repeat! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  3. quiall says:
    06/07/2021 at 4:30 AM

    I always knew you were a superhero! (You do know you have 2 #2s don’t you. You just wanted to see if anybody was paying attention!)

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Audrey Driscoll says:
    06/07/2021 at 7:30 AM

    Wow! You can write through anything!

    Liked by 1 person

  5. derrickjknight says:
    06/07/2021 at 7:34 AM

    I know you can write – but can you with 2 X 2 count?

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Geoff Stamper says:
    06/07/2021 at 12:27 PM

    Amazing when you think about it!

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Kate Duff says:
    06/07/2021 at 4:05 PM

    Well done on the writing – it is so easy and enormously difficult! Which vaccine did you have? I was good with the first dose but the second gave me a reaction – didn’t last long though and I’m so relieved and grateful to be done and dusted with that.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. TanGental says:
    07/07/2021 at 1:06 AM

    That might explain why your reference to #2 in #5 didn’t seem to make as much sense as it would if it was #3 which may have been the previous #2 only it wasn’t. Yep the bastards are never done.
    PS you do have superpowers, it is proven by oven writing. Better woman than me, WonderWidd

    Liked by 1 person

    • Widdershins says:
      07/07/2021 at 1:52 AM

      Heh, heh, heh 😀 … we confuses them we does, my preciousss.
      Doing it once is bloody fantastic, now I get to prove I can be consistent with it. 🙂 The challenge for the back half of the year. 😀

      Liked by 1 person

  9. patriciaphillips55 says:
    07/07/2021 at 3:19 AM

    Awesome 👏🏾

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Ruth Nestvold says:
    07/07/2021 at 5:35 AM

    Congratulations! That’s a great list. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. acflory says:
    07/07/2021 at 7:30 PM

    -giggles- you’re a demon! How dare you put us all to shame? Seriously, I don’t know how you did it. If they ever bottle it, I want some. Good luck with the editing. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Widdershins says:
      07/07/2021 at 9:24 PM

      I think the hardest part was trusting that it was that easy! 😀 … we’re a weird species, us humans. 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      • acflory says:
        07/07/2021 at 9:32 PM

        I suspect it was a bit more than that though. I think the story was in you, maybe percolating for years before something triggered you to start writing. Yes?

        Liked by 1 person

        • Widdershins says:
          08/07/2021 at 12:27 AM

          Mots of my stories come from a single scene that rattles around in my head for a few days, and then I go ‘what ‘if’ from there.
          Not this one. I had the title, then the time/era (1920’s-ish) and I literally sat down and wrote the first chapter without having a single idea what would happen next. Then, all I had to do was build on that first chapter until it was done!
          It was the weirdest process, I tell you. 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

          • acflory says:
            08/07/2021 at 3:12 AM

            Did you never hit a blank wall? I’m a pantster hybrid but I hit walls all the time. Maybe you really do have a Muse peering over your shoulder. 😉

            Liked by 1 person

            • Widdershins says:
              08/07/2021 at 9:54 PM

              I see my stories like a movie, and when I hit a wall, I focus down on the minutiae of what the characters might be doing/thinking/planning, etc in that moment of ‘wall-dom’. I write down what I’m ‘seeing’, until something clicks/my brain makes a connection/ I can see the next scene, and off I go again.
              Very little of that ‘minutiae makes it past the first draft, but it keeps my fingers moving on the keyboard, which, I’ve discovered during this process, is what worked.
              In previous stuff I’ve hit walls that derailed me for sometimes weeks, sometimes permanently, but I didn’t hit a single wall writing like this. It was revelatory!!! 😀

              Liked by 1 person

              • acflory says:
                09/07/2021 at 1:49 AM

                Small ‘discoveries’ help me too. Or at least they give me enough positive feedback to try again the next day. I have to say though that /this/ book is the hardest writing I’ve ever done. Hence why I’m so interested in what helped you. I’ll try your minutea technique tomorrow. 🙂

                Liked by 1 person

  12. D. Wallace Peach says:
    12/07/2021 at 8:54 AM

    You’re a writing machine! I don’t know how you accomplished #3, but you did. Congrats!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Widdershins says:
      12/07/2021 at 5:07 PM

      The heat was definitely the worst, I owe our little portable A/C a huge debt of gratitude. 🙂 … closely followed by the migraines. If they weren’t too bad I’d just wait for that ‘cracked glass’ vision to clear, kick back a couple of painkillers and keep going!
      I don’t know what happened, what switch got turned on, or off … but somehow, nothing else really mattered enough to intrude.
      I suspect that if I’d broken my hands I would’ve used a stick in my mouth to keep on typing! 😀

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.