I've recently had a lot of 'don't wanna edit'-itis and coupled with a neurotic little voice that says "Don't post that blog post! It's not been revised!" Things are sort of stalling on my end. At some point I will either embrace the editing process, or I will just flat out post what I've written first draft and call it good.
Confession: I never learned to edit in school. Never. Being labeled 'gifted in English' plus having a keen eye to which courses would require the least amount of effort, I found myself skating through writing assignments by just writing a draft, doing a copy edit for spelling, and turning it in. My school ethos was in a word, lazy. I even wrote an entire persuasive essay on the topic of nature v nurture completely from my own conjecture, I lost points for not having a bibliography, but the meat of the article was deemed wholly sound.
Thus, I am a spoiled brat who left school convinced of my writing skills, and now that I am facing the 'real world' of writing, I realize how very, very wrong I was. Rewriting is vital, editing is essential, and embracing the truth of "No first draft is perfect" is something that is profoundly improving my writing.
Sadly, I'm still lazy. Overcoming my inclination to take shortcuts, especially on a blog of 'unofficial' writing, is warring with my perfectionist's desire to present really well written, smooth flowing, impressive writing.
This is my conundrum, and I managed to write most of a blog post about it. (This is also a first draft, forgive my ramble.) Yet, rather than letting my blog sit vacant and dull, leaving you all to question my absence, here are some of the things I've gotten involved in recently, and I'm delighted to share.
First off, I kicked in my own meager donation to the massively successful charity crowdfund event for Jay Lake. Even though the original small goals were met right away, the event is still ongoing and every bit of your help goes to help a fellow writer.
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/sequence-a-science-fiction-writer/38705
Additionally, even if you don't donate, the link includes a list and links to all the silly whimsical rewards performed by other writers including Seanan Mcguire, John Scalzi, Pat Rothfuss, and Neil Gaiman. Plus many more! These are all fantastic, (esp Scalzi's Bob Dylan impression.). They also give you the impression of a group of people who care a great deal about each other, willing to embarrass themselves, and have a good time doing it for the sake of a friend.
Other things I've been doing is reading some more very excellent books. Despite the fact that I read very quickly, it's not always easy for me to sit down and just read, so I've only read two new books this month.
"Discount Armageddon" by Seanan McGuire was a truly amazing delightful read. I bought it on release day and had it perched in my "To Be Read" pile for far too long.
This is the first in Seanan's new Incryptid series, and reading it means diving headlong into a fantastic spin on reality where all the monsters are real, but much more likely to be your eccentric neighbor than something out to maul you in the woods. Sure, some monsters are just plain deadly, and some monsters don't have enough intelligence to try to adapt to a modern world, they'd rather keep stinging, biting, and eating any human that stumbles into them.
I'll have a more in depth review to come, but I highly recommend it. My favorite part was the best choreographed fight scene set to music I've ever read. Utter GOLD.
"Dead to Me" by Anton Strout is the first book in the Simon Canderous series, and while I'm still a few chapters from the end I'm really enjoying the ride. I picked up this book mostly because I've been so impressed by Anton on a personal level. He's a fun guy who isn't afraid to tweet about the crazy that goes into the writing process, and he's very connected to his readers. Plus, he's let me give him a hard time. He and his wife are expecting TWINS this summer, so if ever there was a man who could use your book sales Anton is worthy.
More than just the author, I'm enjoying the book itself. Simon is a guy trying to improve himself and find a good standing in a strange and dangerous career where stopping a zombie uprising has it's own set of forms that must be filled out in triplicate and signed before you can even think of going home to wash off the gore. It's the weird and wild as controlled by a government bureaucracy. The tightly controlled filing and organization is a little similar to Myke Cole's Shadow Ops, and the adventures in dark New York City alleys is a perfect complement to "Discount Armageddon". I can almost imagine Simon meeting up with Verity one night. Hopefully without someone getting shot or punched!
That's what I've been up to, and with all this talk about "Dead to Me" I want to go finish reading! Stay warm this winter!
Liz
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