WIP Progress Report: The Never Ending Second Draft

 © Tony Campbell / Dreamstime.com

Nearly halfway through August already and I'm still not finished revising the second draft of my novel, Ghazal. Some days I think this draft is going to last the rest of my life. The worst part is I truly th0ught Ghazal was going to be my "easy" book, you know, the one that would be finished in like, two months, ready to submit. Ha.

On the bright(er) side, as of today I am exactly halfway through this current draft. I guess I could look at it as the proverbial "half full" or "half empty" glass, but either way I feel as if I've been trekking through knee-deep mud for weeks to get to this point. In other words, get me out of here.

One thing that's saving my sanity has been keeping a writer's log. Similar to when I began this second draft, I made a couple of false starts regarding what kind of log I should use, and what needed to go into it. But recently I discovered the perfect notebook. It's called FocusNotes. It's spiral-bound at the top and each page is divided into sections for different kinds of notes. 

I especially like the heading section on each page with the labels: Date, followed by: Purpose. This way I can easily find not only the day I made my notes, but why. This has proved invaluable as I keep making new connections between my characters and their current actions and past mistakes, discovering all kinds of themes and metaphors that are helping me to enhance and deepen the entire story. The downside of all this of course is that for every new connection I make, I then have to discard pages of irrelevant work.

Which is precisely why I'm not a fan of second drafts. First drafts are my passion: give me a great pen, a nice notebook, and a prompt or two, and I'm out of the starting gate in record time. There isn't anything about first drafts I don't like: meeting new characters, inventing strange plot lines, traveling on paper to exotic locales and mysterious dimensions; I can handle it. 

I feel pretty much the same way about third drafts, too. Word-smithing, fine tuning, polishing, making sure it all flows the way I want it to. But second drafts? Yuk. They are in my opinion the absolute worst. 

Besides log-keeping, some more of my survival strategies include:

• Working to a timer in 20-mnute segments and staying completely focused during that time.
• Rewarding myself at the end of each segment with a short peek at social media, a cup of tea or iced lemon water, a walk or a simple household task.
• Working on only one chapter at a time until it is as finished as I can make it. Sometimes this means working on it for days and days, but I don't jump ahead.
• If I get any new ideas for a particular chapter after I've declared it officially "second draft complete" I put all of my notes in my log, never on the manuscript. That way it doesn't get all scribbled over and messy-looking, things that could make the manuscript appear too confusing, or make me feel I'm going backward rather than working toward reaching The End.
•  Taking serious sketching and art breaks every day. Sketching and free form watercolor painting are my favorite ways to step back, recharge, and gather my thoughts.  
• On the days I have a little extra time, I do allow myself to freewrite for fifteen minutes a day in a small composition book. When I do this though, I don't read any of it and just close the book when I'm finished. Reading the pages will be my big reward for completing my second draft!

Some days I wish there was a way somebody else could take over this second draft stage, leaving me free to start a brand new first version of a brand new novel. I'll happily take over at draft three, and I'll even make lunch. For now, though, the idea of a helper will just have to be a 15-minute free write about cloning in my composition book. After that, it's back to the real world of second drafts with no one to write them but me. Drat. 

 Tip of the Day: Buy shoes. Seriously. Or art supplies, or a new book or journal. The only trick is you have to wait until you're finished with--you guessed it--your second draft! Until then, it's stay-in-youf-chair barefoot all the way through.

February Check-in: Revisions

Happy February!  It's the start of revision time for me, taking last year’s edits on my current work-in-progress novel, Ghazal, and putting them into action. According to my notes, there's a lot to do, but I'm more than ready to get the show on the road.

For those of you new to this project, the plot of Ghazal centers on thirty doorways that individually figure in each chapter, and two relationships between two couples. The first couple is comprised of a married, middle-aged businessman and a young woman who has recently abandoned her choice to live in a convent. The second couple is made up of the young woman’s next door neighbors during her growing-up years, two retirees who once spent a magical summer in France and have never forgotten. Together and separately the characters discover what it is they truly believe in, discarding along the way the many lies they have told themselves and each other for decades. 

While the plot is continuous and involves the same group of characters, the chapters can also be read as stand-alone short stories. I realize it's experimental, unconventional, and all of the worst things an editor or agent wants to hear, but it's the direction I'm the most drawn toward. Writing about my characters' lives and decisions in the form of short stories has allowed me the freedom to explore areas and themes that might not work in a traditional novel. For instance, one chapter is about a high school ski trip gone wrong; another is about seeing the Alamo at midnight as a child; while yet another is about the sudden death of a friend in a swimming pool. At first glance these events might not have much to do with each other, but taken as a whole, they can be considered as beads on a cord that eventually ties together in just the right way. 

My self-imposed deadline is to have the manuscript ready for submission by the end of the year, a much wider frame than I'd originally wanted, but I want to fully craft this novel; hasty decisions and speed-revising won't work this time around. I'll be thrilled if I do finish before then, but I want to stay as mindful and focused as I can on this project and not feel pressured to get it over and done with.
 
One of the things I'm doing to make the revising more interesting is I'm drawing illustrations of the thirty doorways I mentioned earlier. I’m still undecided on my final medium, style, and color palette (or if I'll even use color at all), but that's half the fun. Another trick I’m using is to keep a daily “writer’s log," tracking not only my daily progress, but also my thoughts and emotions about the entire revision process. Alongside these are my notes on what I hope to achieve within each chapter as well as a record of my characters' names, ages, backgrounds, and anything else that I need to refer to as I continue to re-write.

As much as I love freewriting and getting that first draft down on paper, I must say there's really nothing better than having those pages finally assembled into a revisable manuscript. At least you know you do have something to work on and improve. The only hard part after that is knowing when to stop polishing, tinkering, and changing every other word so you can finally declare: The End!

Tip of the Day: If you haven’t tried keeping a daily log of your writing or other creative projects, you might like to start one now. One easy method is to use a calendar (especially now that all the 2018 ones are on super-sale!) and write down your word count or similar into each date square. Many calendars have room to write extra notes for the month too, and you can always write on the picture page as well.