Time worked:  :20

Work done:  Started in on chapter 1 with the revising again, with new guidelines. I didn’t get far, though, because I was just too tired.

Time worked:  1:18

Work done:  I spent this time working on a new way to revise my story. I’m not stalling, despite how much I’ve said I dislike revising (I’d admit it if I was), but I’ve realized I might not have gone about the revising correctly. I understand that I’m only going on other people’s opinions here, but I spent some time reading about various writing topics, and some of it was about revising. More than one source mentioned that there is micro editing and macro editing. The macro editing makes more sense to come first, and I actually sort of skipped that. I went first to the line editing and more specific stuff–not on purpose, but because it was easier to start there. I realize now that I’ve ignored bigger issues like descriptions and fleshing out characters and making sure scenes flowed smoothly. I mean, I knew I was lacking those areas, thanks to alpha readers who are pointing these issues out to me. However, I figured I’d fix them along the way in this second read-through. Now I’ve realized that my second read-through really needs to focus on those things. I want to take one scene at a time and go through a list of questions–Is there some aspect of the character that should/can be described here? (Physical aspects are what I’m lacking most, but even other things too, like mental ticks.) Do the characters move at all while they’re talking, or are they standing around with their arms at their sides, stiff as a board? Have I given the senses something to do during this scene? Is the narrator’s voice heard here, or does he sound too much like a third-person objective observer? (That will happen plenty too, I’m sure, but I want to make sure to remind the reader often enough that he’s actually a real character himself, and that these people, this country, and this world are personal to him.

These are things I’ve never really went in search of, just hoped that I did it okay the first time, or that I realized it needed work while absently reading through the story. This is the first time I’ll be seeking them out, and I hope it doesn’t make me too crazy.