Once I had this person in my life who was a hole-puncher. When it came to ideas and decisions (big and small alike), they could tell you exactly why you shouldn’t do it. They could see the problem with something a mile ahead. This is actually a helpful skill to have. It’s strategic. It’s good to know people like this. They can see what you can’t. Except when it isn’t helpful to know them. Because sometimes they're always telling you why you can’t do something, rather than how to make it possible to do it.
Jami, your ideas for adding more layers etc. to your draft are amazing. PLEASE include them in your craft book. Instead of dreading a deep revision, your methods will make it fun and exciting.
Good luck with your next step. I cannot wait to read your novel.
I loved. LOVED. This. God thank you. You really are incredible. ♥️
I’m breaking all the rules in the debut novel I’m finishing right now. Occasionally I feel a small voice of doubt. Reservation. I sit back and worry. Is it too experimental? Will people hate it?
Then I look at the mug a friend made me and gave me on my desk, quoting me (actually): I’m not for everyone.
A smile (sly) crosses my face, and once again I feel at home with my work.
Thank you, Jami - for being this constant whisper into my ear that I can do this. I can’t wait to read both your new books.
When I graduated from college with a degree in Creative Writing, I was full of optimism and spunk. That is, until I got the comments back on my senior writing project, which was intended to represent the culmination of four years of work. My advisor slayed me with words that went something like "I'm sure your writing skills will benefit you in whatever career you choose."
I was devastated. I was going to be a writer! The sad part of this story is that her words, along with some other snark peppered in from the committee caused me to set aside writing almost completely for well over a decade. Only when I was mature enough to realize that other's opinions of me didn't define me was I able to move past it. They were hole punchers.
I've been thinking about this for days. I just moved into a place and I had also heard "it's a small room, it needs to be a light color." But I went full nuts and it's now this deep sea green teal color and honestly it makes me so goddamn happy. I am also revising this month and I'm trying to trick my brain by stopping in the midst of scenes so I don't struggle to figure out where to begin each day. I always know what I have to finish.
And I'm also a fan of revision. My current favorite hack is to use the word frequency counter in Scrivener. (I'm not sure if MS Word has this function, but this works too: https://wordfrequency.org/)
1. It forces me to analyze my writing on a sentence level.
2. It points out spots where I get lazy. (Is something "big" when it could be described as "humongous" instead?)
3. It uncovers tics (Apparently I really like the phrase: "She/he/they knew full well...")
4. It helps me refine my characters' voices, which is especially helpful for a novel with more than one POV. (If the main character has a habit of saying, "You slay me!" would the secondary character also say it? Maybe, if they grew up together or hang out together a lot, but if they've just met, probably not.)
5. It helps me cut, cut, cut. When I zoom in on a sentence with a word I've used too frequently, the first question is: Do I really need this?
Love this post. I just finished a "joy pass" on a manuscript, and that was the entire goal, making sure there was enough joy in it. It's funny, and full of funny characters, but the topic is heavy, by nature, and I made the last edits while pre-grieving. Post heavy grief, it was great to go back in and strike a balance between serious and curious, and to let some light back in. Love a good dialogue pass, too!
Your month of play and risk and revision sounds delightful, Jami! I'm reworking my way through dark times in my writing—meaning, I’m revising material sourced from dark times in my life. Cocaine-fuelled naked dance parties chased by despair, etc. I don’t know how to approach this in a lighter, more buoyant way. But even asking myself the question is helpful.
Thank you Jami! 🙏🏼 I’ve been watching a lot of Holiday Baking Championship reruns to boost my revisions atm. My book has nothing to do with baking! But I love all the baking jargon, the construction, and the details/critiques from the judges…it’s somehow applicable to my revision process (i hope) and giving me a fresher perspective.
LOVE this and also feel like sometimes our creative urges are so innocent (and therefore joy-filled) and it can be so easy for their delicate offerings to get whomped! The sweet part of you that yearned for the intrinsically-correct yellowness = wisdom, and 80% of humanity doesn’t understand that enough. I’m so glad you do! And now have your yellow (teeny) palace. Huzzah 🥳
Many, many years ago, when I still lived at home (okay, eons ago), my mother gave my sister and I free rein to paint our upstairs bathroom. We chose a white and a very, very, bright enamel purple for the trim. Plus I made purple flowered curtains! My sister and I loved it. My Mom, not so much. She shuddered every time she walked into that bathroom for years.
I love the idea of draft passes and use it often. A dialogue draft pass, a character draft pass, a theme draft pass, etc. It makes revision less scary!
Amazing post, Jami - thank you for such valuable words. I have someone in my life who takes care to point out the potential pitfalls in anything and everything - they mean it well, generously and with deep love and kindness - because they are looking out for me to save me from potential disappointment, heartache and failure - but goodness me I'm SO going to paint my bathroom yellow RIGHT NOW!
Thank you, Jami. This is just what I need to hear. I’m doing heavy revisions in December too. I need to cut a ton. And now I’m going to brainstorm ways I can tackle it *joyfully* and intentionally instead of letting it be a nebulous beast.
Needed this! Every yellow-painted bit of it! Ok and this paragraph: “Reading lots of poetry every day for a week, for example, and then diving in and looking at my language and word choice throughout the book. Also just spending pure research days listening to music from the different eras I’m writing in and just closing my eyes and picturing my characters sitting somewhere listening to it, too. I just want to do a ton of daydreaming.” --the craft advice I need right now. Thank you!
I haven’t written anything meaningful, so I can’t talk about revisions. BUT I did want to stop by and let you know that my life also has a hole puncher in it, and because of this piece, I’m realizing that I take maybe too much stock in their judgements without solutions. Lots to consider.
Love that you finally painted your bathroom yellow! Isn't it funny how we sometimes let people do this to us? Especially enjoyed your ideas for reading poetry and short stories in December and how that will inspire revisions.
INCREDIBLE typo in this newsletter. Sorry everyone.
Jami, your ideas for adding more layers etc. to your draft are amazing. PLEASE include them in your craft book. Instead of dreading a deep revision, your methods will make it fun and exciting.
Good luck with your next step. I cannot wait to read your novel.
I loved. LOVED. This. God thank you. You really are incredible. ♥️
I’m breaking all the rules in the debut novel I’m finishing right now. Occasionally I feel a small voice of doubt. Reservation. I sit back and worry. Is it too experimental? Will people hate it?
Then I look at the mug a friend made me and gave me on my desk, quoting me (actually): I’m not for everyone.
A smile (sly) crosses my face, and once again I feel at home with my work.
Thank you, Jami - for being this constant whisper into my ear that I can do this. I can’t wait to read both your new books.
When I graduated from college with a degree in Creative Writing, I was full of optimism and spunk. That is, until I got the comments back on my senior writing project, which was intended to represent the culmination of four years of work. My advisor slayed me with words that went something like "I'm sure your writing skills will benefit you in whatever career you choose."
I was devastated. I was going to be a writer! The sad part of this story is that her words, along with some other snark peppered in from the committee caused me to set aside writing almost completely for well over a decade. Only when I was mature enough to realize that other's opinions of me didn't define me was I able to move past it. They were hole punchers.
I've been thinking about this for days. I just moved into a place and I had also heard "it's a small room, it needs to be a light color." But I went full nuts and it's now this deep sea green teal color and honestly it makes me so goddamn happy. I am also revising this month and I'm trying to trick my brain by stopping in the midst of scenes so I don't struggle to figure out where to begin each day. I always know what I have to finish.
Three cheers for colorful small rooms! I'm a fan.
And I'm also a fan of revision. My current favorite hack is to use the word frequency counter in Scrivener. (I'm not sure if MS Word has this function, but this works too: https://wordfrequency.org/)
1. It forces me to analyze my writing on a sentence level.
2. It points out spots where I get lazy. (Is something "big" when it could be described as "humongous" instead?)
3. It uncovers tics (Apparently I really like the phrase: "She/he/they knew full well...")
4. It helps me refine my characters' voices, which is especially helpful for a novel with more than one POV. (If the main character has a habit of saying, "You slay me!" would the secondary character also say it? Maybe, if they grew up together or hang out together a lot, but if they've just met, probably not.)
5. It helps me cut, cut, cut. When I zoom in on a sentence with a word I've used too frequently, the first question is: Do I really need this?
Love this post. I just finished a "joy pass" on a manuscript, and that was the entire goal, making sure there was enough joy in it. It's funny, and full of funny characters, but the topic is heavy, by nature, and I made the last edits while pre-grieving. Post heavy grief, it was great to go back in and strike a balance between serious and curious, and to let some light back in. Love a good dialogue pass, too!
Your month of play and risk and revision sounds delightful, Jami! I'm reworking my way through dark times in my writing—meaning, I’m revising material sourced from dark times in my life. Cocaine-fuelled naked dance parties chased by despair, etc. I don’t know how to approach this in a lighter, more buoyant way. But even asking myself the question is helpful.
Thank you Jami! 🙏🏼 I’ve been watching a lot of Holiday Baking Championship reruns to boost my revisions atm. My book has nothing to do with baking! But I love all the baking jargon, the construction, and the details/critiques from the judges…it’s somehow applicable to my revision process (i hope) and giving me a fresher perspective.
LOVE this and also feel like sometimes our creative urges are so innocent (and therefore joy-filled) and it can be so easy for their delicate offerings to get whomped! The sweet part of you that yearned for the intrinsically-correct yellowness = wisdom, and 80% of humanity doesn’t understand that enough. I’m so glad you do! And now have your yellow (teeny) palace. Huzzah 🥳
Many, many years ago, when I still lived at home (okay, eons ago), my mother gave my sister and I free rein to paint our upstairs bathroom. We chose a white and a very, very, bright enamel purple for the trim. Plus I made purple flowered curtains! My sister and I loved it. My Mom, not so much. She shuddered every time she walked into that bathroom for years.
I love the idea of draft passes and use it often. A dialogue draft pass, a character draft pass, a theme draft pass, etc. It makes revision less scary!
Amazing post, Jami - thank you for such valuable words. I have someone in my life who takes care to point out the potential pitfalls in anything and everything - they mean it well, generously and with deep love and kindness - because they are looking out for me to save me from potential disappointment, heartache and failure - but goodness me I'm SO going to paint my bathroom yellow RIGHT NOW!
Thank you, Jami. This is just what I need to hear. I’m doing heavy revisions in December too. I need to cut a ton. And now I’m going to brainstorm ways I can tackle it *joyfully* and intentionally instead of letting it be a nebulous beast.
Needed this! Every yellow-painted bit of it! Ok and this paragraph: “Reading lots of poetry every day for a week, for example, and then diving in and looking at my language and word choice throughout the book. Also just spending pure research days listening to music from the different eras I’m writing in and just closing my eyes and picturing my characters sitting somewhere listening to it, too. I just want to do a ton of daydreaming.” --the craft advice I need right now. Thank you!
I haven’t written anything meaningful, so I can’t talk about revisions. BUT I did want to stop by and let you know that my life also has a hole puncher in it, and because of this piece, I’m realizing that I take maybe too much stock in their judgements without solutions. Lots to consider.
Love that you finally painted your bathroom yellow! Isn't it funny how we sometimes let people do this to us? Especially enjoyed your ideas for reading poetry and short stories in December and how that will inspire revisions.