I can’t wait to get back to regular blogging. You know, where I update twice a week instead of maybe once!
So revision is basically my life right now. I eat, sleep and breathe REVISION. Seriously. I eat next to my laptop, which is probably going to end horribly one of these days, and also I fell asleep in the middle of revising once and since I am breathing all the time I am revising, there you have it.
I got the editorial letter for Some Girls Are on October 28th and have been working pretty steadily on the book ever since. At first, my page count jumped from 254 to something like 277 and now it currently rests at 266. That’s probably a good thing, since we all know as far as revision is concerned it is not what’s ON the pages that counts, it’s how many of them there are or aren’t!
… Right?
I made a revision playlist on iTunes to revise to, even. I named it HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY and it is only allowed to have UPBEAT and ENLIGHTENING music on it. It consists of a mere 59 songs because my library of 5,956 songs is overwhelmingly emo, apparently.
Anyway, my HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY playlist has helped me keep the momentum going tremendously. You can totally bet Britney Spears’s Womanizer is on it because it makes me want to LIVE! TO REVISE!
(Also Kenny Loggins’s Footloose is totally on that playlist too.)
When I revise, my taskbar has this running across it: iTunes, three Word documents, one notepad file and Firefox. The first Word document is my editorial letter. I have highlighted the most important parts of it in yellow and striked through the edits I have completed as I complete them (I feel very accomplished when I do that, let me tell you). I am on page 8/12 of the letter and have more than half of the manuscript left to revise.
The second Word document is the manuscript itself, the one I’m overhauling. The third document is the manuscript again, untouched, so I can refer to it when I’m reading the editorial letter, since the overhauled manuscript has a different page count and new material and stuff. The notepad file not only includes revision notes and cut sentences I’m not ready to let go of and emails I have to reply to, but it’s also where I’m drafting this blog entry. And Firefox… well. I have 25 tabs running in it at the moment and none of them have to do with revising, but if you could give me a minute, I am sure I could spin it to make it sound like they did!
And now you know.
I gotta say, I think I love revising. All the possibility in revision is a really exciting thing and I am edging up on a scene I can’t wait to tackle. It’s gonna be so hawt, you guys. Hawt like Kevin Bacon dancing in the movie Footloose.
While I was looking around YouTube for the right Footloose video to post, I came across this comment by someone named afoltz1013 which is full of lulz and so I must repost it here: “anytime i am faced with a crisis in my life i go dance in an abandoned warehouse while smoking and drinking. it just helps no matter what.”
OH, INTERNETS.
As soon as I am done writing this blog entry, I have to wash dishes and take a shower. And then I will proceed to revise some more! Tomorrow I think I might dye my hair red. While I do the revision thang. Have I said the word ‘revision’ enough times in this entry yet? Revision, revision, revision!
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publication date
Tuesday November 11th, 2008 @ 5:05am
611 words, 46 sentencesmeta stuff
categories: some girls are (your mom),writing
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“Watcha watching?”
“Kevin Bacon BREAKING THE LAW.”
“Is he… dancing?”
“HE IS DANCING.”
“Is it the scene where he’s drinking angrily?”
“And then he breaks his beer bottle BEFORE IT’S EMPTY.”
“He is so bad.”
I am so going to try that dancing in an abandoned warehouse, smoking, drinking thing!
“tappity-tap-scoot, glug-glug, puff-puff-puff”
Wow– all better!
Good luck with the continuing revision. Sounds like you are pwning that manuscript. Go you!
xx
Did anyone else find the idea for Footloose (outlawing dancing) just a LITTLE bit of a stretch…even for religious zealots? You know they were like, “We need a good excuse to have Kevin Bacon dance his way all thru a movie – HEY, I KNOW!!!”
Rock this revision! Rock it inside-out!
Also, blondes may have more fun, but redheads get to stay in bed! …that’s how the saying goes, right? Actually, I could be onto something…maybe I’ll start a PJ-24/7 movement. Red hair and pajama pants required for membership. BYOPillows.
I ~really~ need to get back to work…heh.
anytime i am faced with a crisis in my life i go dance in an abandoned warehouse while smoking and drinking. it just helps no matter what
TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN. If it wasn’t for Footloose I would be in therapy I’m sure.
My image of you is shattered. YOU are that organized? Wow…
You’re so funny, Courtney. you should write a book.
Good luck revising!!!
I think if I had that much stuff open on my computer, it would blow up. Maybe I could do it on my new computer, but I keep that mostly for art and writing, and no internet if I can avoid it (which isn’t always possible).
Your happy music mix idea sounds good, unless you are writing a really angsty novel. Or maybe happy you = angst-ridden novel? Whatever works. Rock that Revision!
Love the Footloose quote and video!!! (I think I’ve read that quote before) I went to see that movie several times, and I even took my dad to it. I have no idea why, especially since my mom might have enjoyed the movie way more than my dad. I’m a bit embarrassed by it now, but he was a really good sport and didn’t say anything bad about it. He says he doesn’t remember that I took him to the movie, but I’m sure if he had to watch it again he’d remember :)
Did you dye your hair Revision Red?
You’re so deep in the revision zone right now that it seems like fun. How cool is that!
Hah on that Footloose comment and this clip! I haven’t seen it since the 80′s and God, there are moments it looks just like Flashdance. Where are Kevin’s legwarmers though?
Happy revising, revising, revising!
Annika: AHAHAHAHHAHAHA. BEST EVER. ‘drinking angrily’ that just made me burst into lulz.
pseudosu: I did it yesterday and my life is so improved, seriously.
starrynite: thank you! I feel like it’s pwning me as much as I am pwning it today. :)
Emily: the first time I saw Footloose I was like 12 and even I could see that it was a HUGE stretch. I was like, seriously? SERIOUSLY?! REALLY?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! And I was 12! And I was stupid when I was 12! I’m rockin’ it bb! Or trying to. Uhm. Omg. I love this redhead rhyme. I am definitely dying my hair red now. I WILL JOIN THAT MOVEMENT IF YOU START IT. ps: *\o/*
Briony: HOW MANY LIVES HAS IT SAVED. SO MANY.
Daisy Whitney: it shocks me a bit too, believe me.
Carole Anne: a book you say…. hmm! ;)
sruble: thank you! today, I feel like I need it. and heh–sometimes my computer likes all those things open more days than ever. you have my sympathies. I AM WRITING A REALLY ANGSTY NOVEL, actually. I wonder if my happyhappyjoyjoy mix impeding on the angst?! I’ll find out. NEVER BE EMBARRASSED OF FOOTLOOSE THOUGH! NEVAH!
C.K.: seriously, I am so in it that I can’t see my feet anymore. and now I cannot get the image of Kevin Bacon in legwarmers out of my head. I hope it stays there forever. & thank you!
They had one of those cheesy reunions of cast members recently on the Today Show, and Kevin and the others said they get letters from fans all the time saying that they are going through exactly what they went through in the movie, with no dancing, etc. (especially now, with the current religiousness of the country).
So, unfortunately, it’s a real thing.
More unfortunately, I know a couple of people that would be the ones that would squash the dancing. I try to stay away from them, as they are so un-fun to be around, and get all uptight about anything semi-normal I say.
Oh yeah, and they don’t like magic, not even the silly kind that you do for kids, that EVERYONE knows is not real. Someone I know found that out the hard way.
Really?! That is unfortunate on all counts. Man… wow. :(