Mid-Week Update: Flight Revisions Done!

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*Happy dance!!!*

I will send Flight to my critique partner tonight! I can’t wait to see what she says about it…she’s going to give me tons of great notes, I just know it. Until then, don’t think I’m going to pause or anything. 🙂

I dug back into Chaos Calling over Mother’s Day weekend, after a six-week hiatus. I read and did a light edit on what I’ve already written, which is almost half of the book. TONS of stuff set up, loads of action already written. The question is how I can fit satisfying conclusions to all this set up into the next 35,000 words. My outline is still a bit fuzzy from here, but I have that strange feeling where the solution is right there, and I just can’t quite access it yet. In order to get moving again, I cut about 4,000 of the last 10,000 words I’d written back in March.

Notice I didn’t say delete.

Never. Delete.

But I digress. The trouble was that I wasn’t able to see past a couple of scenes the way I’d written them. I decided they had to go, so I created a scrap document, and copied them in there, then deleted them from my working manuscript. No big deal now to pull them back in if needed.

Which is good, because that’s exactly what happened. I wrote about 500 words from the point where my trouble began, fixed stuff up, got rolling….and realized I’d written to a place where the first 2,000 word block I’d cut could just slide right in, get patched up with transition work at the start and ending of the section. Presto! After writing 1,000 words over the weekend, my manuscript is 3,000 words longer than where I started. Combined with the edits — awesome!! (Hubby, I know you’ll read this: Thank you for being super last weekend. You’re the best!)

I’m all set up to rocket through the last 60% of this book. 35,000 words. I plan to finish the first draft by the end of June. That means my daily goal is 1,000 words. I’m going to have to stretch for that, but what can I say? I think I’m ready to stretch a little, and this book is sooo worth it! Sweeeeet!!

Best of luck to my writer and blogger friends this week!

About J.R. Pearse Nelson

J.R. Pearse Nelson is a fantasy and romance writer from Oregon, USA. She lives with her husband and two daughters among the plentiful trees and clouds of the beautiful Willamette Valley. J.R. is always searching for the magic in our world. She weaves tales rooted in mythology, bringing legend to life in modern-day and fantasy settings. J.R. is the author of the Of the Blood fantasy romance series, the Foulweather Twins fantasy series, and the Water Rites fantasy series. You can connect with J.R. and learn more about her fiction at her website. Visit jrpearsenelson.com.
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2 comments on “Mid-Week Update: Flight Revisions Done!”

  1. Sounds like you’re getting some good work done, JR!

    I do the same thing with cuts. Always create an extra document and stash them there. I had a scene in my current series that I kept axing–but knew I wanted to introduce the character, etc. at some point. So I kept plugging it in, but yanking it back out when it didn’t mesh with the plot. Finally, it got to stay with the third story. So you never know when you might be able to use stuff. 🙂

  2. What a terrific week! Good for you.

    I was editing today too and moved a few paragraphs into my Deleted folder instead of trashing them. I just couldn’t entirely part with what I’d written, but the chapter was leaner and better without them.

    Best wishes for the rest of your edits! And hope the critique partner gives you great feedback.

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