Eric Luper's Random Musings

Along with Jo Knowles, Debbi Michiko Florence, Cecil Castellucci and a few other intrepid souls, I am participating in a January Novel Revision Month. It's a timely project considering the contract for my second novel states clearly that revisions are due February 1, 2008.

Here is what a manuscript waiting to be revised looks like. I like tabbing with post-it notes and writing all over the thing. Please note the essentials: 1) large Dunkin Donuts coffee, 2) watch to see how much time I've wasted, and 3) blue scribble that daughter made for me. She insists it's grass even though it's blue and it reminds me that when it comes to fiction I don't need to play by the rules.



I am 118 pages (out of 213) through my first pass. At this point, I am simply reacquainting myself with the story and characters (I have not looked at the manuscript since June 2007!). I'm making word choice changes and some sentence structure changes. I consider it more cosmetic editing than structural but the changes I'm making now are really going to ramp up the "color" of the book.

Here are a few random other pages:





I'm finding this process is bringing back memories of editing Big Slick. I had forgotten how I seem to only be able to edit a few pages at a clip before my brain overloads and I have to take a break. Six or seven pages at the most and I need to get up and clear my head for a few minutes. Maybe I have ADD or something. Good thing I don't have to take the SATs as an adult!

When I grow weary of editing or when my mind wanders (I mean when my mind is furiously pondering an important edit), I tend to doodle.

Here is a doodle of the Loch Ness Monster:



Here is a doodle of a brain with the eyeballs still attached (along with a picture of a die and the logo for son's favorite show, Ben 10):



And just so you don't think I'm an editing hermit, here is a photo of the snowman we built this weekend. Son named him Zachary. Daughter named her Snowgirl. I suspect this snowperson is going to have a gender identity crisis (along with freakishly skinny arms).