The Writing Cave and Revising

I haven't posted here in a long time. Geez, I've missed all two of you who stop by. Maybe there are five, but I've lost track. Anyway, I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch but there are reasons, the most important one being ... I'm deep in revisions. Just so you know how deep in revisions and how focused I am (or maybe I'm only fooling myself), this photo is a fairly accurate depiction of my mind ... foggy, a few dead limbs and dead leaves still hanging on, but oh, the possibilities!

The book I've been working on since 2010 just got a complete rewrite/revamp/major surgery--we're talking professional consults 'cause I wasn't sure the patient would make it. I might've consulted a dalai lama or two, as well, but heaven knows I've been scaling the mountain since January.

As in, I gutted the manuscript.

I removed a major plotline, to be revived in another book because I love the character and her story, but it was too much, too soon, in this novel and competed with the main character's story. You could feel the dissonance.

I took out a subplot and that character too.

I warned you: major surgery. At least it was bloodless. Maybe.

I fleshed out the MC's story and made her more real. She now has a chronic disease, in fact, one which we share, so the world can know more about this illness. Or perhaps I wanted someone to commiserate with. Nah. She needed to suffer in this novel.

Now, the ending is fully connected to the beginning and feels whole. I'm still working out a couple of little bugs to make my characters more complex and deeply layered. Which translates to, they shouldn't be boring AF.

Then there are the twists and turns. Tricky little stinkers. So I'm trying to wrangle them in place to nail that pacing.

So back to my revision cave I'll go and continue to nurture and grow this baby of mine. We'll see if she's as beautiful as I know she can be. And cave has a window onto the outside world. In case things get a little bloody ...