He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. —Psalm 113:9

May 30, 2010

June is MyNoEdMo

2008-01-26 (Editing a paper) - 29As my long-time readers know, I've been working on an urban fantasy novel for quite a few years now, writing it in fits and starts as major life events kept getting in the way. I finally finished the first draft last year, and made a pretty solid plan to get the second draft edits done in time to start shopping it to agents by the time I reached my 37th birthday. But then Life Happened some more, and that plan didn't work out. My birthday has come and gone -- I've been 37 for almost two months now -- and I'm still only about a third of the way through the revisions.

Regular readers here also know that the kind of Life that Happened leading up to my birthday wasn't the good kind. I suffered back-to-back miscarriages, which really threw me for a loop and left me depressed, unmotivated and uninspired. I've made a couple of half-hearted attempts to dig back into my manuscript since the second one happened, but I just couldn't force myself to care.

Well, the long, dark tea-time of my soul seems to finally be coming to an end, and I'm starting to feel like my old self again. I'm feeling a powerful desire to be creative, to write new things and to finish old things. And so I hereby declare my intention to make this June "My Novel Editing Month" and get the rest of this second draft cranked out over the next 30 days, by whatever means necessary.

So who's with me? Do you have a project you need to finish (it doesn't have to be a novel), or something you've been putting off doing that you'd like to tackle alongside me this month? If so, declare YOUR intentions here in the comment thread. I'll be posting regular updates throughout the month, and you can join in by updating us on your own progress in the comments. Or, if you discuss your progress in your own blog, let me know and I'll link to in my updates. If we get enough non-writing participants, maybe we'll even give it a broader official name. But what? WeCaDoMo (We Can Do It Month)? GitErDoMo (Git 'Er Done Month)? Something much better and less clichéd that you suggest to me in the comments?

UPDATE: The list is still growing!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm in! I've got plenty that needs to get done, but one manuscript in particular really needs revision/editing. I'll give some serious thought tonight and tomorrow to what my specific goals will be and post them on the 1st at my own blog.

Jean Bauhaus said...

Yay! It's going to be so much better to do this with an Accountability Buddy.

Anonymous said...

You've got one, I'm in the process of blogging out it right now. Hopefully maybe we can get a couple more to join in.

Oh! While I'm thinking about it(I think my coffee is finally hitting my system) where would work for posting and keeping up? Twitter or Facebook? Or does it matter? Since this was you're idea, you can pick.

Jean Bauhaus said...

I was thinking here and Twitter, with this being the main hub, where everyone with blogs can leave a comment in my update posts with a link to their progress updates. I'll include links to all of the participants' blogs or web sites (or Twitter profiles for the non-bloggers among us) at the end of each progress post.

We can also keep each other updated on Twitter with the hashtag #mynoedmo (if we used Facebook, then I would end up spending my day on Facebook instead of editing).

Anonymous said...

Am I late to the party? Because I've just resurrected my blog with some goal-flavored things regarding writing my first draft and shedding some pounds. Next update out of me is due for Sunday to see how my first week goes.

Jean Bauhaus said...

No! Nobody's late here! I'm adding your link to all of the relevant posts now. Yay!

Anonymous said...

Hiya Sleepy Jean (LOVE that!)

I'm a fellow wiffer, trying to get back in the groove, and Cynthia sent me over here, so I'm in! I'm glad to see you've been working on your novel for years, because so have I. I get sick of all these overachievers who seem to be able to pop out a completely revised novel in a month or two. Sick, I say, sick! (Actually I secretly admire and envy them.)

I have a 15 chapter novel that I'm in the process of doing final revisions on. My goal is to complete one chapter a week so as to have it all cleaned up and ready for submissions to agents by the fall. Wish me luck!

Kim

Jean Bauhaus said...

Yay! Welcome, Kim!

I, too, have the envy, and the grudging admiration, for people who can get a novel written all at once. Or who can do ANYthing in a non-piecemeal fashion. I just... don't know how that works.

Best of luck!

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