The Life of a REwriter!

Since I came home from school today, I've been working on the rewrite of my George River manuscript (that's my YA novel set in Nunavik). I'm working with something called "track changes." That means my editor, Sarah Harvey, has made notes directly onto my computer manuscript and I respond to her notes (also on the computer manuscript). It's kind of like having a conversation, except she isn't here. Some of Sarah's notes are simple fixes -- for instance she wants me to change the word "Ski-doo" to "snowmobile" since Ski-doo is a product name and snowmobile is more generic.

But some of Sarah's suggestions require a little more thinking on my part. So I just finished giving the entire manuscript a "look-see" and I've compiled a list of the more serious fixes. Some of them say "Check with Mark" (he's a friend in Nunavik); others say "Mo Fix" meaning I can get started on those fixes myself (Mo is short for Monique). I've got three pages of notes... and I'm planning to get going on those next. But first I'm going to do two things. One is TAKE A NAP. (If you've been reading this blog for a while, you will know that I am a great believer in napping for creative purposes.) The other is to roll out COOKIE DOUGH (which I made earlier today) and bake peanutbutter cookies. So there you have the life of a rewriter. The next stage (post-nap and cookies) is going to be tough, but I know I'll end up with a better book... which is what the life of a writer is all about. I expect to be busy with this revision for at least the next week, and maybe even a little longer. Wish me luck! And I wish you luck with whatever you are writing OR REWRITING!!