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12/20/2007: "#103: Editation"

Music: My Bloody Valentine
Mood: good!

I just put some water on for tea and thought it would be a good time to take a break and update the athenaverse. I decided to finish this edit by Christmas, and since I have five days, that's plenty of time. What had been missing for the past few weeks was energy. It is so easy to become distracted and to not focus on whatever it is you want. After I got back to Seattle after my grandfather's funeral, I kept on thinking about Boston. I gave a lot of thought to going back but I have decided to stay in Seattle and create a life that I love here. Once I committed to Seattle, my energy returned.

I am editing one chapter at a time, making separate computer files for each one. At the top is the current edited version; at the bottom is the version from the 10/07 edit. I go over the chapter a couple of times and note how many words are in the new edit each time and compare it to how many there are in the original.

The 10/07 edit was the first time that I read the manuscript as a complete whole, and it was amazing to realize that the story had gone from being in my head to being a pile of paper and existed in physical form in this universe. That one was to correct obvious spelling and grammar mistakes and anything that didn't really make sense in the context of the story. This edit, the 12/07 edit, is where I am starting to tighten things up and hack away at words, sentences, and paragraphs that sound great but aren't really necessary. It's hard to delete lines that I think sound really clever, but once I reread the chapter and see how funky the flow is, it gives me the momentum to continue.

The book that I am reading while I edit is The Elements Of Style by William Strunk, Jr. It is one of the most important books in the English language.

I just finished editing Chaper 3, leaving 17 more to go. I'll keep everyone informed of my progress in the next 5 days.