I want to say how it is right now. Just over halfway through the editing process. Just under halfway through my material. A week into NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month). Sweating, under pressure. It was sunny, now it's cloudy again.
Character doubts
My main character suddenly looks really thin and I don't know her. I read this super inspiring thing - Occupy Steve - on the Office of Letters and Light Blog. Haven't got a hope in hell of occupying my character unless I do some development - don't really have the time to get too waylaid.
Concept doubts
My book idea suddenly looks totally unsellable. Was I even thinking of whether it would sell? As usual, no. I don't approach ideas like that. I wish I did. I just wrote the only idea I had. I wrote a pitch for Pitchapalooza. That took about 23 hours as well! I'm not sure if it was worth it. In theory, it should help sharpen your plot ideas. I think it did ... It was sooo difficult. I couldn't work out if my idea didn't sound jazzy enough when I wrote it down, or was it just too damn complex for a 250 word pitch? Anyway, it's done now. Maybe I'll be able to pitch it better in a year's time when it's done!
Other things in the how'm I doing section:
Keeping in touch with friends
Improving - I went into my own island there for about a month. Now I've had some health problems that have jolted me out of it, thankfully.
Destructive writing habits
I'm alcohol-free!
Caffeine-free!
I'm working on my Toast Problem. If anyone's a specialist in this area, please refer me to them.
Total hours spent editing since start of Feb: 80 hours
Words edited: 27,000 + pitch written + rereading twice + character work