Revision Update: Third Time's the Charm? and a visit from the Diet Coke Fairy

Hey y'all.

So, I received my third revision letter (Or Help Edit and Learn Letter). Each HELL is becoming narrower in focus, and smaller in print, and this time around we will be looking at each paragraph... nay, even each sentence, to check for flow, consistency, and... some other stuff I can't think of at 8:00 a.m.

The Revision Letter:

I always read my revision letters through a soft-glow filter. It helps. 

Sometimes I use rose-colored glasses instead.

This revision comes down to 4 steps:

1. Comb the Draft

...looking for signs of weakness. Am I repeating words? Are the characters repeating actions? Is anyone flinching?

2. Ruminate on Possible Changes

Is there a fresh way to express what is happening? Is that passage even necessary to the book? Can it be fixed? Removed entirely?

3. Adjust Accordingly

Make the mandatory fixes. Trim the fat, where possible.

4. Proceed

... on to the next problem area.

Over the course of the next two weeks, I will be working on these four steps: Comb, Ruminate, Adjust, Proceed. Or CRAP.

As I am in the process of CRAP (CRAP-ing?), it is always good to have some essentials on hand, and Monday night I was lucky enough to get a visit from the Diet Coke fairy.

I opened my front door to find a 24-pack of bottled Diet Coke on my porch. 

I always knew that if I believed long enough, and hard enough, the Diet Coke Fairy would appear. It has been many years since I first heard the magical tinkle of the silver bells on the Diet Coke Fairy's sleigh. Decades.

My friends always told me I was silly to believe. But I can still hear those bells...

So, how is everyone else's January going? The good news is, when I'm finished with this round, January will almost be over! Yay!

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Stealing from All-A-Dollar... Does it get Whiter Trashier than that?

Yay Friday, Y'all.

1. I'm slowly making my way through the entries in the Free Query/First Page Friday Challenge, so if you've sent me something, they are getting done. On a first come first served basis.

Here's an excerpt from Cam Ballou's entry.

I know what you are thinking, how horrible that sounds…someone praying for death when, on the outside, they don’t have a thing in the world to be unhappy about. In my defense, I am only trying to eat myself to death, which all in all is a very long and drawn out method of suicide which will likely only result in high cholesterol, diabetes, heart problems, cancer and obesity and get me nowhere.

I think this is a great example of "voice". Every editor and agent talks about voice, but it's very hard to explain other than to say "I know it when I see it." For me, when I read this, I don't hear the writer; I only hear the main character with a glimpse into her life.

Anyone else want to define "voice"?

2. Alice Pope from Children's Writers and Illustrators Market spotlighted me, Bree Despain and Emily Wing Smith on her blog. Check it out if you get a chance.

3. I've been finding those mini bottles of Diet Coke, which make me feel like I'm ingesting less of the hard stuff.

But then, I went to All-A-Dollar, and guess what I found? Mini old-fashioned Coke glasses! Can you believe it? It's a Christmas Miracle.

(Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong)

I grab 40 of them, and remark to the woman next to me, "Can you believe the treasures here?"

And she's all, "You're blocking the Smershey's Shmocolate Kisses. Can you be crazy somewhere else?"

I pack the glasses tightly into the store basket, and I receive permission from the manager to take the basket off the premises and to my car. But once I'm at my car, I realize I can't have these loose little gems rolling around everywhere on the drive home, and possibly breaking.

What would you do?

Me too. I stole the shopping basket from the Dollar Store. Aside from placing dirty diapers in our porch planters, this is the most white-trashy thing I've done.

4. Sam and I came out of a family Christmas party to see Kid B, asleep in the car like this:

That's gotta win some award, doesn't it?

5. I was checking out the search terms that lead to my blog the other day. I found "alien boobs."

First off, I have never blogged about alien boobs. Second, *who types this as a search term? I mean, seriously?

*If this was you, I apologize.

7. So, what are y'all doing this weekend?

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