Writing Life

So far today, I've resurrected one character from the dead and killed off another.

I Thought about updating the word meter because, I've added a few paragraphs here and there and improved lots of the others. But then, I decided to print it out and have a read through before I do any more improving. There's lots of revision still to go on the present set of words and no point in polishing what may be cut.

All of this makes me aware of my own writing process. Polishing as I write is second nature. This polishing is not to be confused with the final polishing that makes it ready for an editor's eyes. Rather a more a nudging closer to the story vision that exists in my head. All the while the tale remains very much a first draft.

After the original shaping of the story concept into a plots that holds together, which goes very slow--a week or two. Then the words pour fourth, until the last act when new insights lead to revising amid the flow--a decision that slows the writing back to creeping. All told, Sam's story is going to keep me busy all summer.

Then, I'm thinking back to the pirates.