stevenwaitewrites

Do you ever have that feeling of deja vu?

I’m sure I don’t need to explain deja vu, movies and TV shows have used that trope plenty with my favourite example being from The Matrix (1999). It’s feeling a little like that with my Editing Loop.

My process currently is write a chapter, read the chapter, edit the chapter, move on. This is how I get the story out onto the page, this edit is linear, a one-time pass to catch horrendous spelling or grammar mistakes (that aren’t just a quirk of my voice – hey, stop laughing!), as well as closing or opening some plot holes accordingly.

Now that I’ve run out of chapters I’m back at the beginning and editing has become a spiral: read, edit, re-read, re-edit, re-re-read…and “woah, deju vu“. But a spiral has to end at some point…right? (I’m looking at you Sam Lake) – now, to work out whether I’m spiralling up, or…spiralling down.

S

It’s a strange feeling to have written a thing from start to it’s end – strange to have poured so much time into it, especially when it first began eight years ago. Reading back over my writing there are moments where I can confidently correct and change to fit my writing style as it’s changed – but, the best part of editing, is finding those small slivers that make me stop and smile. They remind me of why I started writing when I was a kid, why I continued to write, how I found writing in almost every facet of my life – my home, my work, my hobbies, it doesn’t stop. It shouldn’t.

S

I’m not entirely certain on what made me finally pull the trigger on a website and domain, but it was certainly related to finally completing the first (actual) draft of my first novel:

The Professor & the Girl Who Fell.

It’s a strange thing to say out loud, or put out there as it’s been something I’ve been working on for over eight years now – and yes, my words per minute, or even week by that metric is going to be awful – I do raise a pandemic, redundancy, two new jobs, oh, and an absolutely amazing child to my defence.

So, what’s next?

I don’t like this question because it make me realise how intimidating my “to-do” list actually is – but, top of my list is EDIT. The second thing is populate this website with content.

My plan is to complement my story/stories with additional short form content here as well as general blog posts to keep me surfaced and available. It’s all new to me. I’ve only ever written for personal projects and fun, so now…with a plan in mind, or at least six cats in a trench coat of a plan: I invite you to watch this space.

S