Crochet, Contests, and Cutting up plot lines

My hands are always busy.

And despite being able to type 120 words per minute, I can only edit a document so fast.  Rearranging words takes A LOT more time.

Unlike crocheting, where you follow a specific pattern and at the end you're done. No rewrite. No change this or tweak that. In fact, you can't just pull a stitch out of an afghan and make it work. Trust me, I've tried. :) Yes, I've made some mistakes along the way and have had to stop to pull out stitches to fix it. And then moved on.

With books, that is harder to do. And it's not always wise to edit as you go. So much beauty comes from letting the story unfold and discovering some things you might not have otherwise. It's fantastic. But it can also be kind of messy when you're done and have to work even harder to make it look pretty.

So currently, I find myself editing the first book of a series I've been working on. It's tough. It's loooooong. It needs large sections cut out to help with the flow.

It is not an afghan.

BUT, I'm tackling the process of editing it in the same way I finished my daughter's afghan in a month. The finished afghan was almost queen size by the time I was done. I didn't plan it that way. Just got kind of carried away. Unlike my book though, the size totally worked. My daughter loved it.  The book...yeah...it needs to be smaller.

I finished the afghan in a month because I worked on it in little chunks. Ten rows while the son was at Karate. *Hi, Son...yarn over, pull through, pull through again.* I worked on it while "listening" to a movie with the family.

Essentially, I worked on it in small pieces.


You know the old adage, how do you eat an Elephant?  The answer is: one bite at a time.  And as such, I will finish this edit. One. Chapter. At. A. Time.  It's a looooong and tedious process, but eventually, like the afghan, I will be finished and I'll look at my pretty book and go, "Huh, yeah, that was worth it."

To motivate myself and thank all my friends, I've involved the fans of my Facebook page in my endeavor.  For every chapter I edit I've been picking a winner from the list and sending them a crocheted bookmark, made by yours truly.  Because sometimes it's nice to have a little support. If you want to get in on the fun, by all means. Come join in! Here!

Meanwhile, I'll pick one lucky winner from the commenters here and send you a bookmark. Just to say thanks for dropping by and making it to the end of this post.  :)  And don't forget to include your email so I can contact you! Thanks for visiting!!!!

So how do you edit?  Do you edit as you go, or after a finished draft? How long does it take you on average?