Well, hello. Been a little while, huh? I know that I can, at times, neglect this blog and my readers, but I always manage to find my way back. Someway, somehow. Rest assured, I have still been at it. I've actually been writing, editing, reading, and revising so much that I've not had time to talk about writing, editing, reading, or revising. You get the picture.
At first, I started with a legit break for the #AmWriting world and community. My book has been through two full drafts/rounds of revision. I've had the first pair of eyes grace the pages of the novel that I've been working on for, going on, two years now. As I've said, time and again, I find that I need to rest my eyes and "break" from my work-in-progress. I actually haven't returned to the book for the past few months, but that doesn't mean I haven't stayed busy.
For starters, I've been reading. To me, reading is the ultimate homework for an author. In particular, I wanted to read works of some new, semi-undiscovered, authors in my genre (YA SciFi) to see if my novel would play nicely in the current market and how it might compare to other books out there. After that, I made a strong attempt to read works that were completely different from my own. Classic works, a couple of Stephen King, and two more mindless Robert Langdon adventures by Dan Brown. I even started reading drafts of some friends' respective works-in-progress. Honestly, I have loved everything I've been reading and it has made me all the more thirsty to get back to my own writing.
But, I haven't immediately to returned to my novel. Instead, I've done something I claimed that I would never do. I have started working on a totally new project, of a completely different length, genre, etc. It's been fun and has given me the break I've so needed.
(more on my mysterious new work, coming in a later blog, on some other day, when I'm feeling like elaborating.)
And this brings me back to what I'm always going on about. Take breaks. Read new stuff. Write new stuff. It'll end up making your old stuff, more than just stuff, all over again.
Love,
Tom
Great piece, Tom. I agree with you about the importance of reading. The great Walter Kirn says writers need to read at least two hundred pages to spark even one paragraph of their own work. Couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have found your blog, and I look forward to following along on your journey.
Tom, I found your blog through Twitter. It sounds as though we are in a similar place with our books. I'm also cheating on my 99.2% completed YA novel with a new story (Shhh!). I look forward to hearing about your continued progress through beta-edits and polishing your MS. Congrats and good luck!
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