Comments on: Revisions or What the Ed Said

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Tue, 04 May 2010 07:18:47 +0000

Maisey – yeah, you certainly rocked those revisions, girl! I just hope I can do mine like yours. But it is like carving eh? Wish I was a better sculptor!
Lol re the word verification!!

By: Maisey

Maisey — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:27:34 +0000

Ten pages, Heidi? I salute you!

Jackie, as you know, I've never had anything go through without a rewrite and in my last revision letter (5 pages, which seemed quite scary) there wasn't a lot of good going on.

I love what you said about carving stone because that's exactly what it was like. It was a matter of finding the real masterpiece (She uses the term in reference to her own MS loosely...ahem) beneath all the stuff that it's bogged down in.

You can do it!

(word verification is phoos...a friend of hoo's?)

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Tue, 04 May 2010 03:48:31 +0000

Kaily – yup, she did mention all the stuff I’d pretty much decided was wrong. Plus some stuff I didn’t but I realise NOW what was wrong.
Interestingly, none of the mss that I’ve got now have these problems. At least, I don’t THINK they do…;-)

By: Kaily Hart

Kaily Hart — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:41:23 +0000

Jackie, the feedback at least sounded specific enough that you don’t have to guess what the editor meant. I can tell from your posts that you’ve learned a lot since you subbed that one. Some of the things mentioned you might have already highlighted yourself! You’re getting there and I’m glad to hear you have a plan of attack to sink your teeth into!

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Sun, 02 May 2010 22:45:49 +0000

Sally - thanks m'dear! A cheer helps immeasurably.

Lacey - Thanks too!

Rach - jealous! How many times have I told you that? Lol! I hope to conquer! Or at least reclaim a bit of territory. :-)

Heidi - thanks once again for your advice. Much appreciated. Yep, it's all good stuff. The ms will be a better story for it, I can see it already. I just hope I can do it - I really want to show them I CAN revise. It's obviously a skill that's vital if you want to sell. Ah well, can only get stuck in I guess!

Suzanne - thanks for the faith!

Jane - that's so true. I love the climbing analogy - as you probalby know. I've been climbing 'Everest' for a while now. :-) But it's funny, having a plan of attack has made me all excited about the ms now. I love being able to make things better!

Sri - cheers! I shall! Hopefully. Seem to have a bit of an army behind me already. ;-)

By: Sri Pammi

Sri Pammi — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:01:53 +0000

Attack and Conquer, Jackie!!!

One word at a time.

Sri.

By: Jane Holland

Jane Holland — Sun, 02 May 2010 15:22:46 +0000

I'm with Heidi on the 'don't think about how much you've got to do' business. It's like climbing a mountain. One step at a time, working in careful increments, and don't start measuring the distance still to cover.

On my third revisions to that Tudor partial, I'm having to revisit early emails and notes in order to revive my first enthusiasm for the project, lol.

Don't know if you can do the same, but trying to recall how you felt initially about the story - perhaps before you even started writing it - may help if your enthusiasm starts to flag. Not saying it will, maybe you're all fired up right now. But just in case, that's a strategy to bear in mind ...

Good luck!!

By: Suzanne Jones

Suzanne Jones — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:08:52 +0000

Of course you'll nail it - go Jackie.

XX

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sun, 02 May 2010 13:30:23 +0000

You're very welcome Jackie for the advice, for what it's worth.

I know you already know this, but I wanted to add, don't forget we've all been there (some of us countless times LOL!). I've never had a single book go thru without revisions. Some have needed a major overhaul (and I mean major), some only a few tweaks (actually I think that's only one, but who's counting right!!), but the good news is every single book was a lot stronger as a result of the editorial input and the extra work I put in... And it's the harder books that I really believe have helped me grow as a writer.

So it's all good really. Honest.

Heidi x

By: Rachael Johns

Rachael Johns — Sun, 02 May 2010 12:03:57 +0000

Totally knackered having just come back from Romancing The West where I stayed up far too late chatting to fabulous writing friends, I'm buggered but just wanted to pop in here with a show of support.

Lots of great advice here... especially Heidi's I reckon about taking things on bit at a time!

HUGS!! And GO FORTH AND CONQUER!!!!