The rewrites keep halting. I come to a section that needs some work and I can’t just push through it. I need to step back, to think, to let my unconscious figure out what really needs to go there. Then I steam forward again — until the next section.
It isn’t like the sections that need work need pages and pages of rewriting. It’s much more subtle than that. It’s changing a word here, adding a sentence there, and a couple of sentences in yet another place, then following through on the shift of attitude.
I wish I could work faster through rewrites. But I honestly don’t know how to do it. I’ve tried numerous things — brainstorming, caffeine, alcohol, writing with my non-dominant hand from the character’s POV, journalling, playing video games (okay, so I did try that as well but that was more procrastinating than actually working on the problem.) My brain just needs time to put things together. Sometimes it’s a few days (like this last problem needed.) Other times, it’s just over night (like what the current problem needed.) I should be able to push forward again tonight — maybe finish this chapter, start on the next.
When it’s just rewriting on the word level, I can push through. Most of the latest rewrite has been at the word level, which is why I’ve been getting through a chapter every time I sit down and work on it. It’s these bigger, harder sections that just take more time. I wanted to be finished with this rewrite by the end of September. Uhmmm — oops? But I will be finished sooner rather than later.
Yep, uhuh, agreed. I’m revising, and even though the chunk I’m working on is new writing at the beginning, he process feels more like what you describe, with a lot of unconsious work.
Sigh.
But that makes it so hard to plan for.
It really does! I keep thinking, okay, I’ll finish X chapters today, only to run into something in the first 15 minutes that I can’t solve, and can’t really go past until I do. Sometimes I do just keep doing word stuff with a note to go back, but that doesn’t always work either. *sigh* *Whine*
Yep, uhuh, agreed. I’m revising, and even though the chunk I’m working on is new writing at the beginning, he process feels more like what you describe, with a lot of unconsious work.
Sigh.
But that makes it so hard to plan for.
It really does! I keep thinking, okay, I’ll finish X chapters today, only to run into something in the first 15 minutes that I can’t solve, and can’t really go past until I do. Sometimes I do just keep doing word stuff with a note to go back, but that doesn’t always work either. *sigh* *Whine*