Happy July Fourth. Pass Me the Scissors
This will take forever
This is the perfect day to write. Kids are grown up–one’s in DC celebrating with friends, the other’s an Army boy in Kuwait with the Signal Corps. Holidays aren’t the same when kids aren’t the engine that drives them. Today, my husband and I are relaxing, bbqing steaks when it cools off and watching a TVo’d show before going to bed.
Me, I’m also editing my mss. I have about a month this summer to complete it or I probably never will. As a teacher, my only big block of open time is summer. I thought I’d finish last summer, but didn’t even get close. I’m committed this time. Today and the next 45 days, I’m wordsmithing, cutting out unnecessary descriptions, actions, redundancies–all that stuff that slows a novel down and makes you want to skip pages. Who was it said, Cut out the stuff that readers skip. That’s what I’m doing.
It’s July 4th and I’m at 108,398 words. I need to get to 100,000. I’ll keep you up to date.
While I’m working, here are some videos to remind us-all of that amazing day 237 years ago and the bravery of our forebears. God be with all of you.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, s he is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: I love the USA, writing Tagged: edit, holiday, july 4th, novel writing
