Hash tag edits

Born December 12
Gustave Flaubert
Sammy Davis Sr.
Frank Sinatra
Bob Barker
Bill Nighy
Shelia E.
Maiyim Bialik!!!! (I am so freaking over this!!!)

Born December 13
Christopher Plummer
Tamora Pierce
Steve Buscemi
Jamie Foxx
Taylor Swift

Go Check out Beth Revis' Epic Contest of Epic. It's, well, epic!

I know they say you should let your MS simmer for like a month and all. I will. At some point :)

I've been poking around in the first 5 pages, since I had the Creative Exchange with SCBWI Tokyo on Saturday night. I'll let you know how that went. Probably not 'til after I'm home though.

And next are the hashtag edits.

One of the articles recommended by YA Highway on one of the Field Trip Friday's was an article about using hashtags (#) in your writing. If you're in the middle of a creative run, where the words are coming so fast that you can't think, and you come across something that stumps you, don't stop. Instead put a hashtag and note.

It helped a lot during nano. Like when I needed to know about the mating rituals of peacocks, but I was trying to knock off 1,000 words in half hour on Write or Die.

After you finish your spurt or your draft, or when you're suffering from writer's block, you can search your document for hashtags, and look up all you need then.

So, really hashtag edits don't even count as an edit. It's still technically the first draft. I'm not breaking the rules :)

I made up an edit list since nano, too.

1. Hashtag edits

2. Plot edits
My MC drives at 15, despite the fact that you can't get a permit 'til 16 in Barbados. Plot hole the size of Rhode Island- which might be an itty-bitty state, but is a freaking huge plot hole!

3. Setting edits
I am not a fan of description. It slows the plot down. But what's the point of setting your book somewhere exotic, like my home island, if you're not going to use it. So I'm dedicating a whole edit to working my setting into the action.

4. Character edits
Would MC really do this? Or that? Would LI respond like this? Or like that? Why are BFF1 and BFF2 so similar? These are problems I'll tackle on this edit.

5. Line-by-line
La recherche éternelle pour le mot juste - the eternal search for the right word. This is probably going to be the longest of my edits. And the one that will send me chasing my own tail.

And then a re-read. And the book will be ready! For something. Not sure yet what :)

And, yes, I'm aware you can tackle more than one thing in an edit pass, but I'd rather not. I'm old-fashioned like that. I use my camera for pictures, and my calculator for multiplying. My phone can do both, but not as well or as easily. When I multi-task, life stays exciting, but I'm not as good as I could be.

And my Baby deserves the best!

Oh, also I figured out a name for my WIP.

DEAL WID IT

It implies that there's an issue that needs dealing with AND
It's a common idiom, so it has a lighter, funner tone AND
By using 'wid' instead of 'with' it implies a dialect, and my book is set in Barbados.

I think it's perfect!

For now at least :)