I have bought a fabulous 50s dress and a fabulous (not 50s) shirt! I will show you later.
Well, it has been six weeks since I finished the book - the minimum recommended amount of time to wait before revising a first draft (according to various other writers). As a friend of mine put it, working on the book before the time is up would be the equivalent of taking a souffle out of the oven too early. On Monday a dramatic chord will sound and I will officially be working full-time on the novel again.
Which is fine. The only sticking point is that I need some kind of system for how I am going to approach the revisions, rather than drifting merrily through like a soap bubble floating through the air. I work best under self-imposed deadlines and goals, so I need to start self-imposing them. A chapter a day? I will need to go through all the chapters several times anyway. Revising is quite a process:
1) Adjust the plot and story structure where needed
2) Rewrite where needed
3) Trim down the word count
4) Go through the whole novel polishing sentences and making each word as perfect as possible
5) Check all facts, chronology and continuity
6) Edit spelling and grammar to within an inch of the poor thing's life
Repeat as necessary. And it will be necessary.
I think a chapter a day sounds reasonable. I'll try it on Monday and see how I go.
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