On Sunday morning, my almost-2-year-old daughter and I bundled up in jackets and hats and mittens—because it was in the 50s, and we Texans are wusses about cold weather—and we walked to the end of our block to watch the Austin Marathon. We set up camp at about the 70% mark with some neighbors and friends, cheering runners on for three hours straight.

I just passed the 25% mark of my own personal marathon: my 8-week revision plan. As I yelled out the names of complete strangers yesterday, I fantasized about getting some hot pink puffy paint to write my name on a t-shirt and walking down the street with my laptop on a rolling cart, hordes of friends and fellow writers screaming my name out and encouraging me to keep going.

But then I remembered that I can’t even stand it when my husband reads over my shoulder while I write. So that would foster some serious performance anxiety. And who really wants to be picking at pink paint stains under their fingernails for days after?

How Far I’ve Come

I started a spreadsheet to track my progress, which I know will come as a shock. But the prospect of revising my first draft has been so overwhelming that I wanted to quantify the actual amount of effort it takes from me. Then next time, I’ll know about how long a full revision might take.

Some fun stats for you:

• On average, I’m spending about an hour a day working on my novel. Or, to be exact: 1.074358974.
• I started out with 49,944 words. I now have 46,652. So I’ve lost about 6% of my total words.
• I set out to write a 1-page plot synopsis and ended up with 4 pages.
• After finishing my first read-through of the entire draft, I’m in the process of entering easy edits and recording harder ones for later. I’m about 57% through my marked-up copy.

What’s Down the Road

Short answer? A whole heck of a lot. Probably more than 75%, if I’m being honest with myself. My goal is to increase my daily effort to at least 1.5 hours to get back on track.

Your Turn

What project are you working on right now—writing, home improvement, or otherwise—and how’s it going?

Photo by djwhitebread.

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Fairy Tale
Author: Cyn Balog
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Why I Read It: An impulse pick at the library.

Summary: Morgan and her football-star boyfriend are looking forward to their joint 16th birthday party. But then she catches him hanging out with a new girl.

Stopped on Page: 28
Why I Stopped: The main character’s voice was a little young for my taste. But the clincher for me and the reason I didn’t even make it to my 50-page line in the sand was what happened on page 27.

Morgan and her boyfriend Cameron have been dating since they were young kids. Here, Morgan is comparing her relationship with Cameron to how she sees other girls acting with guys:

I sigh, thinking of the girls at school. Most of them are going through hell for guys—playing weird head games like “ignore him and he’ll fall all over you” or seeing who can fit into the clothes with the biggest price tags and the smallest sizes. I’ve never been a part of that world, and I don’t want to be. I want to be with Cam. That’s the only thing about my life that makes sense.

This felt a little on the needy side to me, and having just come off reading about a needy, all-consuming love in Shiver, I wasn’t ready for another one just yet.

Your Turn: Should I have kept going? Or was I right to stop?

Note: As an aspiring author, I respect the extraordinary amount of effort that goes into writing a book. I did not write this review in order to be unfair or negative about the book. My goal is simply to articulate why the book wasn’t for me.

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Category: Fiction, Young Adult
Rating: 3/5
Why I Read It: Heather’s review at Tales of a Capricious Reader was the one that snagged me.

Summary: Every winter, 17-year-old Grace watches the woods behind her house for a wolf with yellow eyes—her wolf.

Review: Love at first sight can be a pesky little thing. Especially when you happen to fall for a guy who’s missing a few key chromosomes. Poor Grace.

I devoured this story of species-crossed lovers. And unlike most stories with alternating points of view, I felt an immediate connection to both Grace and her wolf, Sam.

But it also left me wanting more. Grace’s entire existence was wrapped up in Sam, and she didn’t seem to have much of a life outside of her yearning for him. All-consuming love, I don’t mind. But for me, it’s even more powerful if a girl is her own person with her own dreams and aspirations outside of being with a certain guy/wolf/vampire.

Still, I will be reading more by this author because the writing was engaging. Here’s a taste from the opening:

I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves. They were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in. Their huddled bodies blocked what little heat the sun offered. Ice glistened on their ruffs and their breath made opaque shapes that hung in the air around us. The musky smell of their coats made me think of wet dog and burning leaves, pleasant and terrifying. Their tongues melted my skin; their careless teeth ripped at my sleeves and snagged through my hair, pushed against my collarbone, the pulse at my neck.

While we’re on the topic of romance, be sure to check out the latest list of book recommendations over at Flashlight Worthy: The Most Romantic YA Books of All Time.

Your Turn: What makes for a better romance—an eternal love that obliterates all longing save the lovers’ desire to be together? Or a big ol’ mess of two separate people with their own wants and needs who have to figure out how to make it work on top of everything else?

Or, to put it another way:

Or…

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Lament
• Eyes Like Stars
• Fire
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing

There is a verb that is in just about every novel I read. I’ll be trucking along, getting into the story, then BAM! I run smack into that word, and my hate for it throws me out of the story. It takes a good minute or two before I’m ready to get back to the book.

This word has never done anything to me to warrant this hatred. It’s just three little letters, for Pete’s sake.

I know I’m being neurotic, although I guess you already knew that. But still, I can’t get over it. I will forever hate this verb.

So what is it? Pad.

If a character pads down the hall, outside, inside, or into a room in socks, slippers, bare feet, or shoes, you can bet I’m cringing.

I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because the verb is so ubiquitous that it’s no longer fresh. But plenty of verbs are overused, and this is the only one that annoys me.

Your Turn

Are there any words that get under your skin?

Photo by mafleen.

Can you trust me? Compare our taste!

Title: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Author: Anne Lamott
Category: Nonfiction
Rating: 5/5
Why I Read It: I read this book a few years ago, and I thought it would make a good re-read.

Summary: A writer reflects on the writing life. Hint: It must include writing.

Review: If you are a writer—published or not—and you haven’t read this book, get thee to a bookery forthwith! Or, to put it another way: go get this book and read it NOW.

It’ll crack you up, it’ll be the flint that sparks your next great burst of inspiration, it’ll warm the cockles of your poor heart made bitter by all the self-doubt and the rejection and the hard work.

I almost had a breakdown trying to choose a quote to post with this review. Because it’s all so good. I would quote the whole book here if I could. But I had to pick one, so here you go:

Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

As I work on revising my most recent NaNoWriMo draft, I have to keep reminding myself of this. To really drive the message home, I think I’m going to tattoo one letter on each knuckle: B-I-R-D-B-Y-B-I-R-D.

Your Turn: What’s your favorite writing advice book?

Borrow: Your local library | Swap
Buy: Your local bookstore | Powell’s | Amazon

Did You Like This Book? Try:

• Writing Down the Bones
• Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life
• On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
• More Recommendations from LibraryThing