Magic and Mayhem - Owning It

Hey everyone! I've finally come up for air while my edits stew a bit and I'm blogging over at Magic and Mayhem today about owning your successes as well as your failures. Hope to see you over there!

So...Whatcha Doin'?

I was a bad blogger last week. And I have to warn you, when my edits come in, I'll probably be a bad blogger again. I have a lot of blog reading and commenting to catch up on and I hope to hit you all up today! :)

I'm trying not to write too many new words because I have a hard time switching gears from writing to revising. So I've been finishing my outline for book 2 which is due next week and looking over CP feedback so the MS for book 2 is ready to go. I've also been reading. Sooooooo much reading. Some of my favorite authors had releases over the past few weeks, two of them being Jeaniene Frost and Patricia Briggs. Let me just say, I devoured their books. I've also dipped in to Kresley Cole and in a couple of weeks I'll be making the two-hour trek to Boise for the new JR Ward book. Yes, I love JR Ward enough to drive two hours for her. ;)

So, what is everyone else up to? Writing? Revising? What are you reading right now?

Blog Chain - Revise Me a Story

This round's blog chain comes from the FABULOUS Sarah who, I might add, stayed up with me into the wee hours last night for an EPIC brainstorming session! Let me just say, that girl could write a book in a night! Anyway--she asks the question:

How do you handle revisions? Do you revise as you're writing, or do you wait until you've gone through beta readers and crit partners to revise? How soon after you finish do you begin your revisions?

I hate to revise. Well, at least, I used to. It always seemed like such a daunting task. I'd whine about making the changes with an "I can't" attitude. But now that I've found my revisionist groove, I don't feel that stress any more. Revising is part of the process and there are many voices chiming in, helping your novel to become a complete and finished product.

I do like to revise while I write. Sarah and I have a tendency to crit chapters as we write them and the rhythm works well for us. But my other crit partners like to have that finished MS in their hands and that works great too! Different methods=different results=all good! While I'm writing, I like to go back and read the previous chapter. I usually don't make any major changes, I'll just polish it a bit. After I've typed THE END, I know I should wait the obligatory 4-6 weeks, but let me tell you, it's HARD for me. I'm not a waiter--like--at all. I'd get so excited to "get the book out there" that I'd jump the gun. And more than once, I've suffered for my haste.

Wait. Do it, people. I may not be any good at it, but I know the benefits. Revise, let the MS sit and send it crit partners. Revise again. Shelf the book for a while--three weeks is even better than none!--and revise again. Once you get that draft to fighting weight, send it out there. And yes, be prepared to revise again, and again, and again!

Kate's response to this question came before mine, and Sandra's will pop up tomorrow. If you want to read about the entire chain's approach to revisions, Start from Sarah's original post and work your way through! Unless, you've got some revising to do! ;)