Novel Update...If I ever thought this was going to be easy....

As some of you know, I've been plugging along writing a YA novel. I anticipated completing it by the end of the summer and querying agents this fall to see if this story stands any chance of seeing the light of day beyond my computer screen. Well, I am definitely off my own time table. And let my tell you why.

As I complete a round of revisions, I print the entire novel and read the hard copy. I can't emphasize enough how important this is. My house may be scattered with papers, but it's a necessary step. You'd be amazed by what you catch reading the hard copy that you simply don't pick up when you read on a computer screen. I'm not just talking about typos, which seem to be there no matter how many times you read the darn thing, I'm talking about how the writer picks up on all the extraneous words, redundancies, phrases that don't capture the meaning you intend...I could go on and on.

Revision one, two, three...

I've had a fairly steep learning curve as I began to formulate my novel. I bought books and searched for information on line about the craft of writing and story telling. A consistent theme was the need to revise and edit your writing.