It’s taken me a little over a week into the new year to get started, but I’m back to working on Polar Bear on the Loose, and, by extension, “How to Revise Your Novel.”  I was dragging my feet at getting started.  The bag with the project was sitting beside my desk.  Taunting me.  I guiltily avoided it for several days.  Then, I moved it to the kitchen table to make it easier to pull the materials out to work on it.  Then I pulled the materials out and laid them neatly on the table.  Finally, while watching a Spurs game, I opened the notebook and began reviewing the notes and flipping the cards.  Then, I began working on Lesson 13, conflict.  I finished the conflict tracker.  Whew.  Lesson 13 is finished.

What’s up for Lesson 14?  Oh, wow!  A timeline.  I like this.  When I tried my first revision, I had to do a timeline, because in the seat of the pants writing of the first draft, you would not believe how the timeline for the book got messed up.  I fixed that and documented it, so I had that available.  However. In the process of taking this course, things have changed, so, naturally, that timeline isn’t completely valid anymore.  But I had it to work from, so I skimmed through at roughed the new timeline onto the index cards using the old one as a guideline.

Something still wasn’t right, so I brought my Crayola Floor Pad down from upstairs (Yes, I have a coloring pad.  What’s it to you?). I opened it to a fresh page and measured three straight lines across the page and segmented them into two inch segments.  Then, I began transcribing dates from the cards to the pad, evaluating for what I really needed.  When I finished, my timeline was 8 years, three months, and one day.  I’d shaved over a year off the novel timeline, but I think there’s still a little work to do yet.  Some things didn’t quite feel “right” as I was working.

Lesson 14 is completed, and I hope the “card games” I’ll be playing in Lesson 15 will help with those things that didn’t feel quite right.  If not, I’m confident Lesson 16, Consistency, will get those concerns resolved.  It’s good to be working again.