Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Laughing at Myself

This is why I am so glad I can laugh at myself.

Dave recommended this book to me in the comment section of this editing questions post. Helen Ginger backed up the recommendation on the same post. So I went out on a mission to find the book. None of the bookstores around here had it in stock. Didn't want to order it, I kept hoping the next store would have it.

I finally gave and decided to look it up on amazon. As soon as the picture popped up, I recognized the book cover. I stared at it for a moment, convinced I'd seen it before. I go to my bookshelf, dig to the back, and voila! There it is. With pages tagged with sticky notes and everything.

Turns out I got it early last year when all I could think about was getting to the point of being able to edit my novel that then, was still sitting at a dismal 52k. (post-NaNoWriMo blues) I bought it, read through it leaving sticky notes for parts that looked good, stuck it on the bookshelf and promptly forgot about it.

I just stood here, holding the book in my hand, laughing at myself for a good five minutes. Only me, would go searching store to store for a book I already had. If I had just looked at my bookshelf closely, I would have noticed it.

I will be spending the rest of the afternoon, going through the book again. What made me decide to check amazon today? I spent almost a hour trying to figure out how the heck I ended up with a scene 17 pages long, and half page scenes before and after it? Totally unbalanced and it was driving me crazy. :D

I hope you all are able to laugh at yourself when you do something silly.

5 comments:

  1. I'm always doing silly things. So, I understand. Isn't it nice to find what you want right on your own shelf?

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  2. It's very nice! Saves me spending 12 bucks I already spent too. :)

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  3. Yes, it's a nice habit to develop. I used to be too serious and could not laugh at my mistakes. I actually laugh only rarely even now, but at least I no longer get red-faced with anger.

    Have you ever visited NaNoEdMo? It's an editing site based on NaNoWriMo. Instead of writing 50,000 words, you do 50 hours of editing in the month of March. Many WriMoers do their editing on EdMo. Go to http://www.nanoedmo.net/xoops2.

    If you edit a lot, it's easier than if you're just getting started. All the time, almost every day, I edit submissions from my writers group as well as my own work. I did 104 hours last year and quit a day or two early because I had nothing left to edit.

    Dave

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  4. I have looked up EdMo and I'm going to give it a shot this year. I want this thing to be done. :)

    I'm hoping I'll finish the basic line editing I'm doing now before the end of March. So when I go back to read through again, it'll still count towards my hours. :D

    I have absolutely no idea how long it will take me to finish editing. Hopefully I'll be surprised and finish with time to spare.

    If anything, EdMo should at least show me that yes, I can in fact finish editing a novel.

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  5. I've actually bought books I already own. That's how bad I am. You were lucky you couldn't find it in the store.

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

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