There's no Wri in my NaNoWriMo.

I'd planned on writing a novel for National Novel Writing Month, I really had. I have a great story, a couple of thousand words written as a nice, thorough plot, I've even started up with some cover design elements, but last night night I officially decided not to participate.

At least, not in the full spirit and madness of the month. I'll still plug away at Falling Domino when I have the time and the urge, but for me, apart from outside influences and obligations (Inventory and Christmas prep at work, a few other projects) November has become a different acronym:

NeNoFinMo

Neal's Novel Finishing Month!

I have two novels that I'm in the finishing stages of right now; Mr Pale Steps Out, which I wrote last year for NaNoWriMo, and Graves, a zombie novel I started three or four years ago.  Mr. Pale just needs a nice breeze through revision and Graves is about the same. So instead of setting those aside in favor of fresh meat, I'm diving into these seasoned piles of flesh and pounding them into finished dishes in November.

It's hard though. I'm still keeping up with my friends and online acquaintances, tracking their progress and man, I want to join in! I have characters in me dying to get out - to kiss and kill and plot and scheme. But there are those ahead of them that deserve their due first. Writing. What a cool gig.

Revisions

I'm neck deep in my final re-writes/revisions for Mr. Pale Steps Out, and I've been thinking a lot about methods. Sometimes, I love the feel of having the printed manuscript in front of me, covered in scribbles and highlighted stretches. Other times, it seems so much simpler to go into the text file itself and just dive in. I think my fave right now is to print the MS and do a cursory overall story edit, then use that as a guide for my onscreen edits. That way, I don't miss any overarching plot or repetitive passage, but I can revise quicker because I'm only doing it once.

How do you usually revise your writing? Does reading it aloud help?