I remember sitting down in late 2013 and staring at a blank computer screen, complete with blinking cursor. I knew I had one heck of a story to tell, now how do I start?
I opened my original journal and started laughing right away. Let's type!
The best advice someone gave me was "You are either writing or you are editing, never do both at the same time." So I wrote! Or typed, and not once did I look back in 222,000 words.
A very interesting thing happened: I completed the first draft. My mind played a trick on me also. I found my voice, or my style of writing, about 60 pages in. So when I finished the first draft i felt that I had written the entire book in that style. When I went back to page 1 and started editing, I almost fainted! It was awful. I must have used the word "Gigantic" at least 15 times in the first 50 pages. "Thesaurus! Get in here! Now!"
I swear I lobbied hard for the absolute removal of the word "Gigantic" from the entire book. I also went overboard on "Headed out".
Seeing these first pages was like someone throwing cold water in my face. And throughout the entire editing process those first chapters were always a bit more work than the rest of the writing.
Have a nice day! More to come my friends!
Peace and Love,
Benny