I’m slowly getting back to some semblance of being able to say I’m working on writing.  I’ve been so distracted by Real Life issues (none negative, but all time and attention-consuming).  Which brings me to Twilight.

I received a tremendously helpful critique by TECH a few months ago.  Tech, I fear, has fallen in love (or at least infatuation) with my Hilda Casiano character.  Hilda is very intuitive, and I know she appreciates a guy like Tech for his thoughtfulness and insight.  Tech’s critique was even more impressive, because he took the time to record it and send it to me as an MP3 (well, three MP3s), which tickled me to death (he has a wonderful voice).  The beauty of this?  I saved it to my iPod, and I can listen to it over and over if I want.  Before you think I’m obsessing, I’d do this to internalize his observations and suggestions, which should serve as a catalyst for new ideas to strengthen the storyline.

I’ve refreshed my memory by listening to Tech’s comments last week and making notes.  Now, I’m using the lessons from the January Workshop at Forward Motion, Using an Outline to Edit (no guarantees how long that link will be valid — requires a free membership to Forward Motion) to capture the book in its entirely and help me analyze it.

So far, I’ve struggled mightily with the revision process.  When I write the book, it flows and becomes a complete picture for me — like assembling a jigsaw puzzle.  In revising, really rewriting, I struggle with pulling the pieces apart and putting them back together into a new and more tightly fitting puzzle picture.  I guess, to me, it’s like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, then taking it apart, changing the pieces and reassembling it.  Mentally, I haven’t gotten my brain around leaving the picture frame and only putting in some new pieces while leaving others in place.

That’s where I’m at, and I’m afraid it’s going to be a slow, painful process until something “clicks” in my brain.  Then, I’ll probably say something like, “Oh!  That’s how that works!  I can’t believe I ever thought it was so difficult.”

At least that’s the way it was with Avogadro’s number and moles in chemistry.  It took about five years after high school chemistry (I think it was college physics) before that clicked with me that Avogadro’s Number was just that — a constant number of particles to make calculations easier in chemistry.  Once it sunk in, I couldn’t believe how I’d ever had trouble understanding it.  (And I had the world’s best chemistry teacher, so it wasn’t the teacher’s fault.)  I’m counting on this revision thing to be something like the mole.  I’m coming up on five years since I first started struggling with the concept of revisions…