What DO You Do with Your Edits?

THIS WEEK'S AUTHOR BLOG HOP QUESTION IS:

What do you do with your edits? 

First I cry....LOL...No, actually I don't. But when I first turned in my "perfect" ms for Sunshine Boulevard to content editor Karen McGrath at Muse It Up Publishing, I was very smug, almost challenging her to find an imperfection. After perusing the ms, she returned it with suggestions, comments, and LOTS of red ink from the tracker program. It looked like something had bled all over the pages!

It was a shock at first glance. Then I settled down to read what was on the page and to apply her suggestions. She was very gentle and kind with me and told me she is easily bribed with chocolate. We worked together very well as she guided me through to developing an improved, tighter story.

And, yes, I have saved every one of the edits for Sunshine Boulevard in a file. I have no idea what I will do with them except smile when I see them in the documents file. They are a reminder of a wonderful collaboration and learning experience with Karen on my first published e-book.

Want to read more from writers on what they do with their edits? Click on the Author Blog Hop.

Blog Hop Thursday-Writing in Logical Order

THIS WEEK'S AUTHOR BLOG HOP QUESTION IS:

Do you write in logical order?

I like to think that I am more left brained than right brained. Left brained people are more organized, ordered, and systematic in their approach to life I usually think of accountants and IT people in this group. Right brained folks are, well, NOT so I imagine artists in this category.

Because I feel writing is a form of creative arts, I should fit into the right brained area, but when writing, I do follow the logical steps in progressing from the beginning to the conclusion of a story. I never write the middle before the beginning and would never think of writing the end before the beginning. However, having said that...I am flexible when writing so I can take twists and turns that add more to the story than what I had originally imagined.

So are you confused with this non-answer? I guess I am not writing too logically, eh?

Check out how other bloggers answer this question at Alternative Read. Scroll down the page and find the blogs participating this week.

Plotter or Pantser

THIS WEEK'S AUTHOR BLOG HOP QUESTION IS: 

Are you a plotter or a panster?

This is a fundamental question posed to writers. Does the author plan or outline or know before she writes the book how the story will play out on the pages? OR does she sit down and just begin writing and let the characters, plot, etc roll out as she writes?

I don't know why we ask this question of fellow writers, just curious to learn tips on how to get that book down on the page perhaps. Readers are interested in how a book develops too.

I have found that plotters are at one end of the extreme and pantsers are at the other. I, like many writers, are in the middle. I don't make a three page outline or a 35 page outline as one author told me, nor do I just jump in willy nilly with no idea how the story will go.

Plotter ------------------------------------------ME---------------------------Pantser

I do scribble down ten to fifteen key ideas to take me in the direction from the beginning of the story to the end. When I begin writing I know the setting and the time frame and I have had the story bubbling up in my head for days. I turn over ideas while I am showering, walking, washing dishes, and right before going to sleep at night (which is annoying). When I sit down to write, I can't wait to get started on the rough draft and race to the end. Then I go back and flesh out the story improving, adding, deleting, etc.

Writing a book is a process. There is no right or wrong way to do it. Just write the way that works best for you...plotter, pantser, or in between.

To read other authors' methods of writing click here.