From Retyping to Rediscovery: Why Your Manuscript Deserves a Break After Draft Three
From book idea to publication and beyond.
Happy Saturday! In today’s newsletter you’ll learn:
📚 What’s next for my WIP
📝 Why your book needs a break
👉 What you might do instead of tackling the next revisions
Recently, I accomplished the impossible. Okay, not really. But I did get through an entire retyping of the Sointula novel. If you’re interested in why I did that, and why you might try this strategy, too, you can read about it here.
So, what’s next for my work-in-progress? Do I start again? Print it off and revise? Send it to beta readers? Start pitching? There are so many options for writers, and no answer is the right one.
While I’m happy with this third draft, there are two things that need to happen before I revise again.
I’m taking a research trip in August to the actual Sointula on Malcolm Island, British Columbia.
My book needs a break (and so do I).
I planned the research trip a few months ago, after receiving a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. Although I have so many great resources at my disposal, I can’t wait to be immersed in the environment of the Sointula settlers. Some of the buildings still exist, and there is a museum with lots of artifacts. I’m hoping to get lots of my questions answered about those early days, but I also know from previous research trips that writing about a place requires standing on that ground, breathing that air, viewing that sky, and trees, and water.
Not only do I want to complete the research trip before writing another draft, I truly believe the book needs a break. Like a cake fresh out of the oven, it needs to settle, no matter how much you want to cut it and dig in.
Coming back to the book in a few days, weeks, or in my case, months, I will have fresh eyes and see what I’m too close to see right now. It will be the same book, but it will be, in some ways, new to me again. Waiting time combined with the new facts I’ll learn and the sensory details from my journey to Malcolm Island will, I hope, make the manuscript stronger.
Here are a few suggestions after writing a full draft:
Take time away from your manuscript (a few days, a week, months even)
Do something else (start a new project, read, walk)
Return to research or take a research trip (what don’t you know yet?)
Allow yourself to forget your story for awhile
Consider sending to beta questions (see this article about beta readers)
Come back to the manuscript with fresh eyes and some distance
Prepare yourself for the next round of revision (and be ruthless)
📚 Women Writing Circle
The Women Writing Circle meets on the second and fourth Monday of the month from 6:30-8:00 PM EST.
These offerings are for paid subscribers ($8 USD/month). You can learn more about the benefits of subscribing here.
Bonus: As a paid subscriber, I’m offering a complimentary 30-minute book coaching call as a thank you. You can take advantage of that call to chat about your book idea, work-in-progress, publishing options, or anything else you’d like to discuss.
Happy writing!
