Polishing and Editing — My Psychic Self

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Abstract

ave been filling in the blanks. That kind of writing for me is slower. I am editing, proofing, clarifying, rewriting, and adding new stuff. I broke through 71k words this morning and anticipate I might be at 73k words before the whole thing is finished.The other day, my husband offered to be a reader/proofreader. I promised to get the book to him at the end of December. That leaves me a little over one week. Right now, as you can see in the illustration above, I’ve got another three chapters that need attention. After that, I will go through the entire book from beginning to end and figure out how to print it.I’m using Atticus to write the book, but I’ve never taken one to the printing stage before.I am still enjoying the book and find this next stage is such a different way of writing. A person cannot even with a well-planned outline think of everything there is to say about something the first time through. Granted, this is not a work of fiction, so until I try my hand at that, I don’t know what to expect. But what I am doing is sort of fun.As I read through what I’ve already written, I have to hold myself back from any more than grammatical and spelling mistakes in case I mention new stuff and come to find out that I’ve already written about it. I did do that a few days ago and found myself deleting a section. But it wasn’t long before I found it. It doesn’t take all that long to read the chapter first and then go back over it to expand it. I just have to remember not to start fresh writing before I’ve reread the chapter.Something else that has come in handy is searching through

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the entire book to see if I have said something about what I’m writing about in another part of the book. I almost had nightmares about it, but I finally convinced myself to calm down. I do quick searches every once in a while, when I have a feeling I might have already addressed a particular issue. I did that this morning and found that I had not written it into the book. I wrote it somewhere else. It might have been in one of my Medium articles, or it might have been in another book I wrote a couple of years ago and haven’t gone back to again. Or, I might have talked about it in my journal.If any of you would like to try your hand at the NaNoWriMo writing challenges, check them out. It is free. The next event is April 1st and is called Camp NaNo. This is one where you set your own word count and write for a month.I’ve written several articles about the NaNoWriMo in November. I hope that by doing so it might encourage others who have a book in their heart they’d like to see on paper. I have learned to be choosy about what I spend my time on by participating in them over the years. It has made me a more disciplined writer. Having the psychic energy of all those people with me as we all write together has supported me, as have all of the writers at Medium.So, thanks for your support in pushing me to become a better writer, and thanks for reading.<a href="https://pmevanosky.medium.com/subscribe">🌸°•°🌸 Pauline 🌸°•°🌸</a>The Links <a href="https://nanowrimo.org/"></a><a href="https://nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo — always free</a></article></body>

Progress is Slow but Steady

Spreadsheet of My Psychic Self — screen print by the author

In writing more on my book “My Psychic Self,” I have the book planned out. Each chapter has been given consideration, and the first draft is done. The stage where I find myself now is to flesh out the chapters that are not yet 2,000 words or thereabouts. The Virgo in me wants to keep things neat, and in my brain, if the picture on the wall isn’t hanging straight, it is just plain wrong.

I don’t want the chapters to all be exactly 3,000 words, just in the neighborhood of being a similar length. The introduction and overview are about 1,700 words right now, and I have not been moved to lengthen them. Maybe later. Maybe not.

I finished the book to 50,000 words at the end of November when I wrote the lion’s share during the NaNoWriMo November writing challenge. I try to participate every year. It’s fun and even though I don’t really mix with any of the other writers it is comforting to know they are also set down on their behinds writing as much as they can.

For those writers who also hold jobs, it is hard. I know. I was one once, though I didn’t do as much writing in those days and found most of my energy and creativity wrapped up inside an office, creating thrilling numbers in spreadsheets. But I’m retired now and have more time to write.

During this month of December, I have been filling in the blanks. That kind of writing for me is slower. I am editing, proofing, clarifying, rewriting, and adding new stuff. I broke through 71k words this morning and anticipate I might be at 73k words before the whole thing is finished.

The other day, my husband offered to be a reader/proofreader. I promised to get the book to him at the end of December. That leaves me a little over one week. Right now, as you can see in the illustration above, I’ve got another three chapters that need attention. After that, I will go through the entire book from beginning to end and figure out how to print it.

I’m using Atticus to write the book, but I’ve never taken one to the printing stage before.

I am still enjoying the book and find this next stage is such a different way of writing. A person cannot even with a well-planned outline think of everything there is to say about something the first time through. Granted, this is not a work of fiction, so until I try my hand at that, I don’t know what to expect. But what I am doing is sort of fun.

As I read through what I’ve already written, I have to hold myself back from any more than grammatical and spelling mistakes in case I mention new stuff and come to find out that I’ve already written about it. I did do that a few days ago and found myself deleting a section. But it wasn’t long before I found it. It doesn’t take all that long to read the chapter first and then go back over it to expand it. I just have to remember not to start fresh writing before I’ve reread the chapter.

Something else that has come in handy is searching through the entire book to see if I have said something about what I’m writing about in another part of the book. I almost had nightmares about it, but I finally convinced myself to calm down. I do quick searches every once in a while, when I have a feeling I might have already addressed a particular issue. I did that this morning and found that I had not written it into the book. I wrote it somewhere else. It might have been in one of my Medium articles, or it might have been in another book I wrote a couple of years ago and haven’t gone back to again. Or, I might have talked about it in my journal.

If any of you would like to try your hand at the NaNoWriMo writing challenges, check them out. It is free. The next event is April 1st and is called Camp NaNo. This is one where you set your own word count and write for a month.

I’ve written several articles about the NaNoWriMo in November. I hope that by doing so it might encourage others who have a book in their heart they’d like to see on paper. I have learned to be choosy about what I spend my time on by participating in them over the years. It has made me a more disciplined writer. Having the psychic energy of all those people with me as we all write together has supported me, as have all of the writers at Medium.

So, thanks for your support in pushing me to become a better writer, and thanks for reading.