by Dina Sleiman
When I teach writing classes, I always talk about how
important it is to get those ideas out of your head and down on the paper. Lump
of clay writing, I call it—or in less delicate terms, word vomit! In the winter
of 2013-2014 I word vomited the sequel to Dance
from Deep Within onto my computer while I awaited the decision on my
Valiant Hearts Series from Bethany House Publishers. As many of you know, I
landed that deal, and the next two years were a blur of writing, editing, and
marketing Dauntless, Chivalrous, and Courageous.
But now those books are out on the market, and for the last
year I’ve been launching a new career of public relations writing for the
non-profit humanitarian organization, Operation Blessing. I haven’t had much time
for writing anything new. You see where this is going, right? While I didn’t
have time for writing something new, I did have time to edit and complete my
95% finished first draft.
So I dusted off (okay, I found and opened the old Microsoft Word
file) of Dare from Deep Within and
set to work. I still had some challenges to face since I had shifted directions
somewhere in the middle and needed to clean up my characterization and
motivation. The wording needed a good edit, and I had to write the ending. However,
just a few months later, in my spare time, I’ve managed to complete a very
solid draft of the novel. WhiteFire, who published the first book in the
series, has agreed to release book 2 sometime in 2017! That's a mock cover, I still want to find a more youthful, thinner looking figure of a Muslim woman in a niqab.
It turns out what I teach my student’s is true. It’s always
worth getting those ideas down on paper, even if they grow dusty on the shelf. How about you? Have you ever dusted off an old manuscript?
What were the results?
Dance from Deep Within is Available on Amazon now.
Dance from Deep Within is Available on Amazon now.
I'm hoping to get back to my old manuscripts...in 2018. Authors are encouraged to put aside their work for a time so they are able to come back to it with fresh eyes. I think I've got that covered.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Dina! I know how much these characters mean to you and I look forward to the release!
Editing is so much easier to do in pieces than getting a new story out (Word vomiting). That's when you need hours or days in a row to write. And why my Saturdays are so important.
Yeah, I used to prefer the initial writing process because I'd get in an amazing creative fog, but that hasn't happened for me in many, many years--it happened with most of Love in Three Quarter Time in 2011 and maybe the first few chapters of Dauntless in 2013. Ever since, it's just been chipping away at books. The editing is definitely much easier, and I really enjoy the editing process now.
DeleteI have a Civil War manuscript that never sold, though it got me my agent. I probably should spruce it up someday and see what I can do with it. :D
ReplyDeleteThat would be cool!
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