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A 5% Reduction in Manuscript PagesPosted by John Woodington on March 8th, 2010

I’m making progress on my edit of my novel AlieNation.  This thing started out at 463 pages, and is now down to 440, which I calculate to be about a 5% reduction in manuscript pages (like the title of this post says.  See what I did there?  Right?)  I’d say this is pretty good as far as edits go, because I’m not even halfway through the manuscript, so I’m hoping to cut off a good bit more by the end of this particular edit.  I’d like to get down to 400 pages in this draft, but we’ll see.  That’d be almost a 14% reduction in pages, which is more than my original goal of 10%.

Note to self and everyone else: I think I got that 10% goal from Stephen King’s On Writing.  Don’t know why I stick with it.  I don’t really like King’s work (Except for On Writing, which is great), but I respect him for the sole fact that he gets stuff done.  And I want to get this thang done.  I think he gets stuff done well enough to use the phrase “git ‘r done” at his readings and talks, but I’m not sure.

I’m also finding that putting time aside to work on editing is difficult, mostly because I enjoy the writing part of things more than the editing.  That said, nothing I write ever gets published unless I edit the snot out of it, and since I want this story to be successful, I’ll hunker down and put in my time with it to make it the best I can.  I’m just lacking a bit of motivation, naw meen?

And I just saw this: it’s called a Vook, and it is an eBook that you both read and watch, as it contains video.  Is this cool?  Maybe.  Not sure, since I don’t own any of the necessary technology to read/watch any Vooks.  Also, the word “Vook” just sounds too much like a person with a Russian accent trying to curse in English.  What the H is that about?

Rejection, eBook Costs, and NeologismsPosted by John Woodington on February 2nd, 2010

We’ve talked about rejection here before.  Many types of rejection, but mostly rejection of the literary kind.  Terrence Cheng has some very good words about rejection (and not just the literary kind) over at Glimmer Train.  I like the Glimmer Trainers.  They’ve always published great writing, but they’ve also made a big effort to publish writing about writing, especially in their Writers Ask mini-magazine thang.  I’ve gotten a couple of these juicy tidbits, and they never disappoint.

Apparently eBooks will be costing more in the near future.

The new Puzzler at Narrative is a good one.  Finally.  Invent your own words.  I love it.  I’m always inventing my own words, because, as we all know, the ones that are already out there just don’t cut it sometimes.  Check it out: Gidottta.  Yep.  That’s a word of mine.  Gidotta.  You know, like, “Hey, gidotta my face, bra!”

So I’ll have to work on that.  Because “Gidotta” prolly won’t win me some Narrative competition points.

Finally, I’m about 50 pages into my editing of my novel AlieNation.  That title will change, don’t you worry.  Luckily, the book seems to get better as it goes, so it’s got that going for it.  That also means I’ll have to pump up that beginning a little more before I call it done.  The goal is to get it done in time to pitch it to an agent or three at a writing conference this summer at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania.  Should be fun.