My stop in Houston last week was a tough one, but [i]man[/i] did I get to do something awesome. To be a part of history.

All along I had planned to go to Minute Maid park–my first trip there–and catch a Houston Astros game. I was with Gene, a reporter on my staff, and a big baseball fan to boot. We figured all along that since the Astros aren’t doing well this year that tickets would be easy to come by.

Nice thinking on my part.

Because little did I know, but Craig Biggio, theMy stop in Houston last week was a tough one, but [i]man[/i] did I get to do something awesome. To be a part of history.

All along I had planned to go to Minute Maid park–my first trip there–and catch a Houston Astros game. I was with Gene, a reporter on my staff, and a big baseball fan to boot. We figured all along that since the Astros aren’t doing well this year that tickets would be easy to come by.

Nice thinking on my part.

Because little did I know, but Craig Biggio, the second baseman, was just a handful of hits shy of 3,000, an amazing feat by any standards. So when Gene and I went to the stadium on Thursday–Biggio was at 2,997–they were sold out. Not a ticket to be found. I wound up scalping tickets–for considerably more than face value–and man-o-man did it pay off.

Biggio indeed got his three hits for 3,000–he actually got [i]five[/i] hits that night! It was amazing. And the Astros won it in the 9th inning with a grand slam. Unfortunately, Gene and I had to leave a bit early because of a work commitment the next morning, so we missed the big comeback, but we were there for 3,000. It was one of the greatest single baseball moments I’ve ever witnessed live. In my own way I got to be a part of history.

It was a great night. Just a magical baseball moment that’ll live on forever. And I was there to see it.

Just a quick note today. I’m out in Houston for another work trip, although this is my last one for a while–thank God. I’m pooped!

As advertised, it’s hot and humid here, although ironically, nicer than New York right now, which I hear is being bombarded by thunderstorms.

I will say, though, that Houston has some darn good restaurants. Last night I ate at a great seafood place–the scallops were de-licious. And when I was here two years ago I ate at Americana, with a desert–tres lechJust a quick note today. I’m out in Houston for another work trip, although this is my last one for a while–thank God. I’m pooped!

As advertised, it’s hot and humid here, although ironically, nicer than New York right now, which I hear is being bombarded by thunderstorms.

I will say, though, that Houston has some darn good restaurants. Last night I ate at a great seafood place–the scallops were de-licious. And when I was here two years ago I ate at Americana, with a desert–tres leches–which I’ll never forget.

And after a long day of meetings today, I’m off to Minute Maid Park to see the Houston Astros, so I’m kinda psyched about that.

Otherwise, gotta suit up and do that hang-shaking thing.

Be back on Saturday …

In my last blog I talked a bit about some of my editing process. There’s one more technique I use that isn’t common. In fact, I don’t know anyone else who does it, although it may just be that several other writers do it, and I’m just not aware of it. Nonetheless, when I tell other writers that I do it, they initially look at me like I fell on my head. (I get that a lot). So either that means that maybe I need to get that head of mine checked out, or maybe I’m on to something.

It’s what I lIn my last blog I talked a bit about some of my editing process. There’s one more technique I use that isn’t common. In fact, I don’t know anyone else who does it, although it may just be that several other writers do it, and I’m just not aware of it. Nonetheless, when I tell other writers that I do it, they initially look at me like I fell on my head. (I get that a lot). So either that means that maybe I need to get that head of mine checked out, or maybe I’m on to something.

It’s what I like to call Back to Front editing. I’ll explain.

The normal, standard style of editing–whether it’s a novel, comic book, newspaper article … blog or barbecue chicken recipe, is to write, read and edit starting at the beginning and working your way to the end. Makes sense. It’s ordered. Sequential. There’s a flow. Fair enough.

And that’s how I edit, too. Why wouldn’t I.

But over the years I started to realize that, because of that standard editing process, the front of my projects got edited the most, and the quality and frequency decreased as I got toward the end. Because I start at the beginning, I’ll start reading, catch something, and then revise it. So then I start again, and maybe make a few more changes, re-read. And on and on. To the point where the beginning is clean and tight and reads well.

But as I continue through a document, I get tired. I lose focus. It’s normal. It happens to virtually every writer I know.

So what I do–and this is only sometimes, depending on whether I feel that it’s necessary–is that I’ll start at the end and read backward. Yep. Backward. Meaning, I start with the last paragraph and read the paragraphs in reverse order. With a novel I’ll only do this on a chapter by chapter, or section by section basis, given the project’s overall length, but for a short story or a magazine article I’m writing, I take this approach when I feel like it’s not as tight as I’d like it.

Take a single chapter in a novel, for example. Say there’s 50 paragraphs. This means that I’ll start by reading chapter No. 50, and then 49, and then 48, and so on, until I’m done.

I do this for the same reason I mentioned in my earlier blog bout sequencing. When I read in sequence, I start anticipating the words that are coming, and then don’t focus as well as I would like. Because I know what to expect, I sometimes skim instead of read carefully. By reading the paragraphs in reverse order, my mind needs to stop–and slow down–because the sequence doesn’t make sense. If forces me to refocus, and then give each paragraph more focused attention.

Again, this process is to find little things. Awkward phrasing, too much description. It’s for pruning. I don’t use this for overall flow because … it’s backward!

But if I’m working on a scene or a section or a chapter and I just don’t feel it’s quite there, I edit back to front. It’s just another little technique that helps me in the overall. Sometimes getting a new perspective shows me things I otherwise would have missed. I don’t use this technique all the time, but it is helpful.

Anybody get the new Paul McCartney album? I’m hearing pretty good things about it.Anybody get the new Paul McCartney album? I’m hearing pretty good things about it.

Anybody seen anything good this summer?

[i]Knocked Up[/i] has been my favorite by far. If you liked [i]40 Year-Old Virgin,[/i] you’ll like this. It’s just laugh out loud funny all the way through. I’ll definitely be buying the DVD of this one!

Also, [i]Ocean’s 13 [/i]was pretty entertaining. Just light, breezy fun. I’m not saying it holds up well logic-wise, but who cares? It’s mindless and an easy good time.

Other than that, haven’t seen much. I still haven’t seen [i]Spiderman 3[Anybody seen anything good this summer?

[i]Knocked Up[/i] has been my favorite by far. If you liked [i]40 Year-Old Virgin,[/i] you’ll like this. It’s just laugh out loud funny all the way through. I’ll definitely be buying the DVD of this one!

Also, [i]Ocean’s 13 [/i]was pretty entertaining. Just light, breezy fun. I’m not saying it holds up well logic-wise, but who cares? It’s mindless and an easy good time.

Other than that, haven’t seen much. I still haven’t seen [i]Spiderman 3[/i], and I hear [i]Pirates of the Caribbean 3[/i] is just awful.

A few days ago I was talking to someone about my editing process on Finders Keepers, and while it?s normal for me to work the way I do, he thought it sounded a bit unusual. And that got me realizing that what I do process-wise seems normal for me because I spend so much time doing it, although I never think about what the writing?or editing process?might look like from someone else?s eyes.

So … I thought I?d share my editing process with you, giving you a peak through the window. I want A few days ago I was talking to someone about my editing process on Finders Keepers, and while it?s normal for me to work the way I do, he thought it sounded a bit unusual. And that got me realizing that what I do process-wise seems normal for me because I spend so much time doing it, although I never think about what the writing?or editing process?might look like from someone else?s eyes.

So … I thought I?d share my editing process with you, giving you a peak through the window. I want to add up front, though, that this is just my process. Every writer edits his or her own way, and there?s no one best way. This is what works for me:

Now that the manuscript is finished?it?s been finished for quite a while now?I decided to take another look, having put it aside for six months while I built the Web site and sent letters to agents. It?s a decent sized manuscript?about 120,000 words?and it has a lot of chapters. A lot. But that?s only because they?re very short.

What I?ve been doing is breaking the manuscript into 50-pages chunks, and then giving it two full reads. So I print out 50 pages, as I don?t like to edit on screen in large chunks; I?m a paper guy. It?s easier for me to read and I can take pages with me. And then off I go.

[b]First Read[/b]:

On this first read, I?m looking both for little things?grammar, awkward phrases, etc.?but also for overall flow. Does the 50-page sequence work well? Is the pacing right? Does it move along too fast? Too slow? Is there repetition among the chapters? Did I leave out something important? Does some piece of plot or dialog need clarification?

In doing so, my editing process is to make edits, in pen, on the pages. Once I?m done, I sit at my computer, and input those changes on screen, circling each change on the page as I make it. For example, if there was a sequence on the page that said: The wind swept through the valley … but I didn?t like it, on page I would strike a line through those words in pen. When I delete those words on screen, I then circle the edited text on page, telling me that I made the change.

Once I?ve inputted all of my changes on screen and save them all, I take a break?at least an hour, or days, if I can?t do more in that session. Then I go back to my edited pages and make sure that I inputted those changes correctly.

This is an [i]extremely [/i]important step. It is very easy to make a mistake, especially if you?re inputting several changes. So I check to make sure that I actually made every change I intended to make.

Going back to the wind swept through the valley example, on my desk will be the page with those words, which at this point should have a line through them from my initial edit, and they should also be circled, noting that I inputted the change. I then read that section on screen to confirm. If I inputted the change correctly, I strike a line, in pen, through that circled phrase?usually in different color ink. This tells me I inputted the change correctly and can move on. If I didn?t make the change?if I missed it for some reason?I do it then.

If this seems like a tedious process, well … it is. But it allows me to catch a lot of little editing mistakes that are inevitable.

[b]Second Read:[/b]

The second read is where I like to mix things up a bit. It?s not a common process?at least not to my knowledge?but I find that it?s a very big help. Rather than re-reading that same 50-page section for a second time?in sequence?I read the chapters out of sequence, in some random order.

So instead of reading chapters 1-4 in that order … 1, 2, 3, 4 … I?ll read them 3, 2, 4 and then 1.

Why? Fair question.

When I read anything in sequence, multiple times?whether it?s a page, a single chapter or a chunk of chapters?I start to anticipate the words and their flow. I start skimming. Since, in my mind, I?m really thinking?I know what comes next?I?m not as focused as I could be. Instead, if I?m reading chapters out of order, my brain kinda says: Dude, whoa, that?s not right. Wait. Let me take a closer look at this. Which is my point exactly.

Reading out of sequence forces me to look at each individual chapter, the pages?and even paragraphs?more closely than I normally would have. And since at this point I?m more focused on nuance than flow, that focused attention again helps me catch little things?words, phrases?that maybe I overlooked the first time. It?s a new way to look at something I?ve already done.

And then I edit on page as I?ve described above.

Once I?ve wrapped up a 50-page section, I start with the next 50 pages, and do the process all over again. And on and on until I?ve then re-edited the entire manuscript, which I?m doing now.

So this is just a little peak into the world of this writer, trying to bring the ideas swirling in my head to you.

An interesting thing happened to me?writing-wise?and it?s been one of those really unexpected blessings that came in disguise.

As I wrote about recently, I had a fairly prominent literary agency respond to my new query letter, requesting–pretty energetically–to read the first 50 pages of Finders Keepers. Naturally, I was pretty jazzed up about it. So I went back to my manuscript and gave it a thoroughly read-through, and to my surprise?and delight?I was able to snip and prune those pages An interesting thing happened to me?writing-wise?and it?s been one of those really unexpected blessings that came in disguise.

As I wrote about recently, I had a fairly prominent literary agency respond to my new query letter, requesting–pretty energetically–to read the first 50 pages of Finders Keepers. Naturally, I was pretty jazzed up about it. So I went back to my manuscript and gave it a thoroughly read-through, and to my surprise?and delight?I was able to snip and prune those pages so that they were tighter and cleaner than ever.

I haven?t spent much time on my manuscript in about six months, so I?ve got a little more perspective now. Fresh eyes. Even though the agency ultimately passed on my manuscript ($%#@!), it motivated me to read not just the first 50 pages, but the entire book.

So for the last two weeks I?ve been reading and re-reading pages, making mostly minor edits, just giving Finders Keepers a nice polish.

And then it happened.

After zinging along as a reader, I started to notice that there were some scenes?while I felt well written and accomplishing what I initially intended?were redundant. It?s like a movie director looking at the entire film, sitting in the editing room, and saying?you know what? As much as it kills me to do it, I think we can cut this scene.

I?m still editing, and probably will be for about another two weeks, but I?m finding a chapter here, a chapter there, that can probably go. It?s allowing me to trim the manuscript down so that it?s really tight and clean, which is always the goal. It also helps with pacing, keeping the plot moving along.

So once again, something really positive comes out of a seeming setback. And Finders Keepers is better for it.

Hi Gang,

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days. Had some computer issues, but they seem to be all better now.

Blogs coming …Hi Gang,

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days. Had some computer issues, but they seem to be all better now.

Blogs coming …

Okay, so I wasn’t in my best mood yesterday, and here I am, back it, getting back in the groove. I admit, I’m still a little stung by that last rejection letter, but already I’m better and getting my mojo back.

In fact, I’ve been editing like crazy, tweaking and slicing, to get Finders Keepers into the best shape its ever been in. Granted, I could spend a lifetime editing, but I feel really good about this round, as I’m not doing any major rewriting or changing. Just a nip there, a tuck theOkay, so I wasn’t in my best mood yesterday, and here I am, back it, getting back in the groove. I admit, I’m still a little stung by that last rejection letter, but already I’m better and getting my mojo back.

In fact, I’ve been editing like crazy, tweaking and slicing, to get Finders Keepers into the best shape its ever been in. Granted, I could spend a lifetime editing, but I feel really good about this round, as I’m not doing any major rewriting or changing. Just a nip there, a tuck there. It’s like pruning a plant. Every now and then it needs a little attention so that it can bloom.

And so I’ll be spending about the next two weeks giving it a spit shine while I prepare for the next batch of query letters which I’ll be sending out soon.

Sometimes you just gotta take one on the chin. It ain’t the worst thing that ever happened, and it’ll certainly happen again, sooner or later. It’s all part of the process. Sometimes it’s better to get roughed up a bit so that you’re game tested.

Now that I’m all Rocky Balboaed up, let me get back to the work and get this baby out there …

The best part of being a writer, perhaps not surprisingly, is writing. You?re invested, you’re creative, you get to express yourself and have fun. As a writer, you are the lord of the page. What you say, goes. It ain’t half bad.

What can be less fun is the business side of publishing. Finding an agent, getting published. Given the nature of publishing, there?s just an inherent mound of rejection that comes with it, just like with actors or musicians or any other arts-type activity. Getting The best part of being a writer, perhaps not surprisingly, is writing. You?re invested, you’re creative, you get to express yourself and have fun. As a writer, you are the lord of the page. What you say, goes. It ain’t half bad.

What can be less fun is the business side of publishing. Finding an agent, getting published. Given the nature of publishing, there?s just an inherent mound of rejection that comes with it, just like with actors or musicians or any other arts-type activity. Getting accepted into the club often depends upon the whimsy of others?and oh, what fun that is.

When you get in … it is fun. Way fun. Getting rejection notices … less fun. And like most writers, I?ve got a huge pile of them, sort of a badge of honor, so that when you finally break through you can say, ?see, I made it through all this and now I?m here.?

I?ve had a few things published over the years, and it always feels good. And I certainly have my stack of rejection letters. Truthfully, none of them are fun to get, but they don?t all sting that much. Sometimes you go approach an agent or a publisher thinking that it?s a long-shot anyway, or it?s probably not a great fit, but, oh, what the hell, go for it anyway.

But sometimes it stings. It can really take the wind out of your sails now and again. It just happened to me. After sending out my revised query, and feeling good about it, a fairly prominent agency asked me to see 50 pages of Finders Keepers. And it was a neat little letter, too, with exclamation points and everything.

So there I was, all excited?trying not to get too excited?spending several days feverishly re-reading my manuscript to make sure it was as neat and tight as I could get it. And then I dropped it in the mail, really wanting this to be the one, and then hoping for the best. Feeling like, maybe this one could be it. Don?t want to get too overanxious, but I?m feeling the vibe. It’s the most optimistic I’ve been through the entire process.

And then the email came. That dreaded note with the phrase ?… but unfortunately, we didn’t feel your project would allow us effectively to represent you …?

… Sigh …

I know that every [i]no [/i]just gets me one step closer to a [i]yes[/i], but right now?in this moment?it stings, I?m a bit deflated. I hate this part.

By tomorrow or the next day, I?ll be just fine. I?ll be right back at it, as always, getting those letters out and doing what I love to do most?writing. I mean, [i]man[/i] I love to write. It?s a part of me. It?s who I am. And no amount of ?unfortunately? letters could ever take that away.

Getting published and writing are mutually exclusive. You don’t have to get published to keep writing. And I’ll write no matter what. It’s just that times like these remind me of those differences–that writing is one thing, getting published is another. And if I want both, I have to be willing to deal with both. The ups and downs. The excitement and bummer.

Today was a bummer.

Tomorrow’s a new day.