Sometimes Change is Good

The revision process has begun. Today, I rewrote the first scene of my NaNoWriMo novel. This is a first for me. Usually once November has passed, the novel sits untouched on my hard drive. I have six or seven such masterpieces collecting dust. I'm afraid to go back and look at my first attempts at novel writing.

Looking at my beginning with fresh eyes helped. After all was said and done, I cut almost three hundred words, most of them notes to myself, which are perfectly acceptable during NaNo, and added four hundred new words.  The original scene just tapered off without a end. Transitioning from scene to scene is one of my weaknesses. The new version has a suitable ending, but it changes the next two scenes a bit. They will have to be rewritten and combined. I keep telling myself it is all right, nothing is set in stone and change can be good.

It is important to me to keep moving forward and to write every day. My goal is five hundred new words a day. After writing over two thousand a day during November, this will be a piece of cake. The hope is by March, I will have a second draft I can send to beta readers for their input. Putting my words out in the world is scary to think about.