I’m a fast writer. My brain goes so quickly that pen and paper doesn’t work well at all, so I’m eternally grateful for the computer. This natural tendency is a blessing while writing a new novel, especially for something like NaNoWriMo. While I have my story fairly well planned out ahead of time, I can’t get too detailed or I find I can’t write as well. The curse is that I end up with a lot of mistakes and occasionally forget to put in some details that I intended but ended up chasing another scene and am remiss about leaving myself a note. That eventually all needs to be cleaned up.
For me, getting the words out of my head is the important thing. Once they’re out, I have something to play with and mold into what I want it to be. That means that I spend a lot of time editing. In fact, I probably spend more time editing than I did writing the initial story in the first place. Which is fine with me. I love to edit. I know a lot of writers find editing tedious and they dread it, but not me. I enjoy switching over to my left brain from time to time to really get analytical. It’s almost like a break for me.
Yes, I know I’m probably an oddity because of that, but believe me, it’s not the first time. I’m an ambivert. What’s that? It’s a mix between and extravert and an introvert. There are times that I’m in desperate need of social interaction to fill me up and then days later I just need to be alone. Surprise, or no surprise. That’s usually when I can be found writing. Or editing.
I’m about to start editing the series of stories I wrote this summer. I’ve had a few people read the first book. I know I have edits to make. I always do, but this time around, I’m nervous about the amount. I’ve never written 250,000 in 10 weeks before. That’s a lot! I just kept writing and didn’t stop. Most times I go back and tweak here and there. With my book Fall Into You, I wrote that very quickly because I couldn’t sleep due to being on Prednisone for a cough that refused to go away. I was hyper and only able to sleep for about 4 hours a night at the time, so I had a lot of extra hours in my day. And then I edited for a year. I won’t edit for a year again because that’s a bit ridiculous, especially if I want to get another book out.
Somehow, I have to make sure that this next book is edited as well but in 1/12 the time. Cross your fingers for me? I could really use the luck.
