Eating My Words

I love the sparkles of the holiday season--lights are all aglow at our house. Cowgirl, my daughter, especially threw a lot of gusto into decking the halls. Or at least into decking the Christmas tree. 

Which was why she found it so disturbing that tree ornaments started appearing randomly around the house. 

Pip and Jelly, our hooligan kittens, were treating the tree as their very own toy hanger. 

I reassured my daughter. I said, "It's okay. If we move the ornaments up high, the kittens won't be able to reach them, and everything will be safe."

Per usual, I had to eat my words. 

 

Doesn't she look smug?

I'm hoping to eat other, more yummy things as well this holiday season. I'm especially thinking about cheesecake. Although if eating words would make me more productive with writing, I'd be up for that as well. 

Thanks to all who made last week's Friday Feature fun. Happy holidays to all, I hope you like my gift to you, images of a cat in a tree. :) 

Not inspired yet? Okay. Just for you, I'll throw in an extra cat, and a falling star:

Menaces, my kittens.

I wish you peace during this holiday season! 

Santa's Helpers

I hope this puts your mind at ease.

Superman and Cowgirl are guiding Santa this year.

Making a Mad Draft to the End

I'm working through a revision of my MG project. But I can't really call it a revision, since I'm not revising. I'm rewriting the end. So much changed in the first two thirds--characters added and changed--that while the storyline and plot remain the same, the people moving around the plot are different. I'm using very little from the earlier draft in this rewrite of the end.

And it's a funny thing. Because it's not really drafting, but it's not revision either. It's a slow rewrite. A cautious thing. I imagine it might be how some people go about drafting--picking each word carefully. I couldn't draft an entire book this way. And, I'm wondering if I should be doing a fast draft to the end, instead of rewriting. Should I be speeding toward the finish line?

It reminds me of how I did Christmas prep this year. I made lists. I checked deals online. I figured out my budget and what gifts would fit into that budget. I braved black Friday(!). Everything I did was deliberate. I wrapped presents. I offered to wrap presents for my in-laws who are arriving from out-of-town. Just send them to me, I said. I don't mind. So then I wrapped more presents. I labeled boxes so wrapped presents wouldn't get mixed up. Slow and steady toward the big day. And I was ready ahead of time. And felt completely drained of Christmas spirit.

Normally my Christmas prep is a quick, mad dash. Out buying last minute gifts with grumpy shoppers. Up all night Christmas Eve wrapping. One fateful year, I ran out of tape, and my husband had to run out in the middle of the night to find an open truck stop. Not fun. Well, kind of fun. In the mad dash I normally do at Christmas time, I never run out of spirit. It's essential to get me across the finish line.

And, I'm wondering if it is the same with my writing. I always let things stew for a really long time before I even start to write. Then I write fast and hard until I get to the finish line. And then I revise. Or rewrite. So, I wonder if I should be making a mad draft to the end, to preserve the spirit of the novel.

How do you rewrite? Is it more like drafting, or more like revision? Or maybe you don't need to rewrite? Any tips for a mad drafter?