After a great experience with National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it is affectionately called by most participants) I decided to participate in the April’s Camp NaNoWriMo. Because I am still going through the hell of editing my November novel, I decided to pick up a novel I had already written and spend April re-writing it. Sounded awesome in my head and in theory it should have been a great idea. Yet, I am not enjoying it at all.
This is a novel I wrote some years ago. One that I love and have always hoped to pick up and revisit. First problem; this was written before I used a computer at home. In other words, I handwrote it. It’s completely written on hardcopy which means I cannot just revise it and edit it, I have to TYPE IT first! Boring, seriously boring. I found out I write faster if it’s coming straight off my head instead of words copied from a paper. It is painfully slow and, in case you are still wondering, boring.
Second problem: because I am typing it (AKA copying it into electronic format), I am too tired to actually revise it (even though half the time I am doing it my head). I may never do it at this rate.
Third problem: it is skull numbing boring. Or did I already mention that?
Solutions? Good question. I may go back to the beginning (I haven’t got that far) and start revising in earnest. Forget about typing it, forget word count and goals, and do it with the revisions already built in. Or I could just write it all from scratch. There are things that need to be updated since I wrote it quite a few years ago and the world has changed considerably. But there is also a lot of good stuff that I don’t want to lose in the rewrite.
What to do, what to do, that is the question.I am open to suggestions if you care to comment. Or some cheer leading may help. I am hating it and I don’t like it when that word is uttered in the same breath as writing. Help!
Author Natalina Reis 