Revision Road Map

I’m up in Portland this week visiting the newest little Tallulah. With two infants and a toddler under one roof things are pretty noisy, but tucked away in my suitcase, just waiting for the moment that everyone else is sleeping, are my notes for the revision of my current draft.

I printed the story out last week (four pages to a sheet to keep it compact), and read through the whole thing making notes as to what needs to change where. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that step, but every time I sat down to write I got overwhelmed by everything that was missing from the story, so I had to do something.

I’m glad I did. Now I have this perfect road map of edits to make, page for page, and the work suddenly seems a lot less daunting. Some are line notes, some are thoughts that will need considerable work, and in some instances I simply wrote “no,” but now I no longer have to think about the big picture while I type, all I have to do is write.

Of course, before I can do that I have to find five minutes of quiet. Right now, that’s the bigger challenge.