rewrites

All posts tagged rewrites

First submission of the year

Posted by Frank Cote on May 31, 2012
Posted in: Life, Writing. Tagged: , , , , .

Wow.  It’s been almost 2 months since my last post.   Sorry about that.

I’ve been busy with work, life and assorted drama.   I’m still here, so it’s all to the good.

I’m working as much as I can on my re-write of Revenant.  My main issue these days is the whole “show, don’t tell” rule/guideline.  That is my focus these days when I put words down.  I still hope to be finished by the end of the summer, but I’m not rushing things either.   I have a strong plot, good characters and in the end, I think it will be a good story.

Outside of my re-write, the workshop at TMI has ended (I am sad) but I’ve taken the final assignment, polished it up a little more and sent it out as a submission to a paying market!  Yay!

As I’ve said before, this is a win in my book.  Acceptance, rejection, rejection with notes are all icing on the literary cake.  While it would be nice to sell something, it’s ok if I don’t because if I keep writing and following it all the way through, eventually SOMETHING will sell.   Any other outcome can only mean improvement of my writing.

Besides, I’d love to actually meet my goal and collect 10 rejections this year (if not more).

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August is a marathon. What did I get myself into?

Posted by Frank Cote on August 17, 2011
Posted in: Novel writing, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , .

You may have noted that I have not been updating as often and that my posts have been mostly about word count.  I do apologize and I promise that once Labour Day is past, I will be contributing better to this blog.

I’m on track to break 20K for the month tonight, or at the latest, tomorrow.  I’m still behind but not disasterously so.

How’s my August?

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We’re in the final stretch!

Posted by Frank Cote on July 26, 2011
Posted in: Life, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

It’s Tuesday and it feels like Wednesday or later, this is the rare time where this is a good thing.

I cruised by 35K yesterday and my current goal is to hit 40K by tomorrow night (natch).  I’ve got some good stuff on deck and I can easily fill 15K with it.   I am good to go.

Writing group on Sunday was fun and productive.  The weather was perfect to sit outside, so I made the most of it.  I got to discuss writing and writing related matters with two of the most intelligent people I know.  I got some great feedback as well.

They managed to put into words what I sensed was wrong with my short story “Kenneth” and I intend to do a serious rewrite in September taking those notes in consideration.  That was a great learning experience.  I will try to do better and I can’t wait to see the outcome!

We brainstormed my WIP and came up with some really great ideas and some things that I need to think about.  More and more, I see that I’ve neglected my characters in planning this thing.  It’ll be something to consider when I rewrite in a few months.

I also got a chance to discuss their works, which is something that I’m very interested in.  I want to help as much as they help me.  In helping them, I learn.

All in all, it was a success and charred meat was had in celebration!   It made for a great day in a great weekend.

Fear and Procrastination in Montreal

Posted by Frank Cote on February 25, 2011
Posted in: Life, Novel writing, Writing. Tagged: , , , .

This week I have worked.  I can be honest, however, and say that I could easily have worked harder and accomplished more.  I have a short story to try and write, a prompt to work on and my attempted serial is just getting to the good parts.  Sadly none of these will write themselves.

I’ve also got a plan and a good start to finally rewriting the manuscript that’s been haunting me for the last couple of years…but I’ve not touched it.

Why?

I’m a really really bad procrastinator.  I put things off.  I’ll do it later.  In fact, I was going to post this on Monday but…

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Manuscript rewrite – The Plan!

Posted by Frank Cote on February 24, 2011
Posted in: Beginnings, Novel writing, Writing. Tagged: , , , .

I’ve been playing around with a words a bit lately and having a lot of fun, but I’ve decided that it’s time to get to work!

I have a first draft finished.  I’m confident in the story and I’m excited enough about it that I want to take it all the way.  It’s been a while since I finished the first draft, so I’ve spent the last week or so getting back into my notes and re-reading.

There are a lot of problems.  I see nothing that can’t be fixed, but it won’t fix itself.  It needs a serious rewrite and here’s how I plan to get it done!

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