A thought about Editing when it gets tedious

Just a Thought .... about the novel I finished last March - 2012

February 2013 - I have returned to editing my book - The Last Year of Childhood, which I would like to get published soon, preferably by traditional means, or self publishing. I realise that it might take some time, as it might need more editing than I thought. But it took longer to write, and I practically did some of that writing in my own blood.

Why did I leave it for so long? 

I got bored.

I got complacent. I'd done the first draft.

It got tedious.

I got defocussed.

I thought I might like to try something else ...

Poetry!

A short story! Yes, I did get shortlisted by Choc Lit Publishing Competition. So that was worth it.

Social Networking - Face Book, Twitter, Linked in, Authonomy

Socialising for real, and concentrating on other parts of my life.

Editing became too hard to return.

And harder ...the longer I left it.

I felt I was stuck with it ... which way to turn?

How to structure?

Did I have a good first chapter?

Did I have all the right ingredients?

Did I have a compelling characters, especially a Main Character, POV,etc, etc.

Was there a good enough hook?

What about the first 3 chapters ... that I would need them spick and span before sending to an agent? Were they good enough?

Oh dear! I can't remember what I wrote in the middle chapters... ?

I bought some publishing and editing books - two of them.

I read them and marked them up.

I had lots of new ideas, and started editing again.

I stopped editing, and reread the whole 120,000 words (400+ pgs) of my novel.

I got a new notebook and wrote notes on each chapter in different colours as I went along. (colours denoting type of changes to make)

Still it was hard to re-start editing again.

Feb 2013 - I have started to edit again - The Last Year of Childhood.

I have realised that my book was not complete last March, nor will it be complete ....

...NOT UNTIL THE FAT EDITING SINGS! 

LITERALLY! 

.....THE WORDS, SENTENCES, PARAGRAPHS, CHARACTERS, STYLE, GRAMMAR, SPELLING, CHAPTERS, PLOT ..... JUST HAS TO SING IN MELODIC HARMONY ....

....LIKE AN ORCHESTRA.

SCARILY, I HAVE TO BE THE CONDUCTOR OF THAT ORCHESTRA !!! 

SO MUST GET ON! 

Bye for now,
Marilyn xx