Tag: rewrite

Reading the Vision Out Loud: Part III (or Slowing Down)

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on April 29, 2015. Posted in GOD, Writing. 7 Comments on Reading the Vision Out Loud: Part III (or Slowing Down)

I’ve slowed down. Reading aloud the first eighty pages whizzed by, but now it’s dragging a bit. This is as it should be. As the story grows, more strands are woven in, and I must be more analytical to make sure I don’t drop a stitch (how’s that for a knitting metaphor by a non-knitter?). I notice things my characters,...

The Good News

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 2, 2014. Posted in General. 6 Comments on The Good News

When I was young, my mother told me I’d gotten a phone call. I was whining about what terrible news it was certain to be, and she said, “How can it be good news if you don’t leave room for it to be good?” I think of this every time I’m about to open a SASE. You know, the letter that, incredibly, some very high-end...

Spinning Plates, or The Writing Life

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 21, 2014. Posted in General. 6 Comments on Spinning Plates, or The Writing Life

Thank you to my friend and neighbor Susan Cushman for tagging me at Pen and Palette to answer some questions about my writing. If you don’t follow Susan’s blog, go take a look. Susan blogs regularly on writing, mental health, and faith; her post on Shrinking the Monsters discusses her own writing process. Susan is a wonderful supporter of the...

I Can’t Blame the Agent

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 23, 2014. Posted in General. 4 Comments on I Can’t Blame the Agent

If you’ve been following this blog, you know I spent about fourteen months attempting to rewrite my manuscript, Train Trip: Lucinda Mae’s Quest for Love, Honor, and the Chickens, into a novel a particular agent could successfully represent. At the end of this process, the agent declined representation. This is not her fault. Every...

As It Is Written

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on June 20, 2014. Posted in General. 8 Comments on As It Is Written

I have failed, utterly and totally. Yet I feel irrationally exhilarated. The agent I’ve been trying to please with a rewrite for the last year and a half (!), just sent me a final rejection, door shut, not even opened a crack. Instead of feeling stomped on, I feel relief. This is so strange. As a result of the revision process she triggered,...

The Stink of Failure

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 27, 2014. Posted in General. 10 Comments on The Stink of Failure

I have just sent—for the last time—to the interested agent Train Trip: Lucinda Mae’s Quest for Love, Honor, and the Chickens. After three (count ’em, three) prior attempts, I have either successfully managed to revise the manuscript into a “market ready” product or I have not. I am telling y’all this because I need...

Editing on the Moon

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on September 18, 2013. Posted in General. 4 Comments on Editing on the Moon

I gave the words a last once-over, focusing on the new scenes designed to make the novel vibrate. Scrolling, I called it finished and exported the Apple Pages document to a Word document. Hitting “Send,” I sailed Train Trip: Lucinda Mae’s Quest for Love, Honor and the Chickens to the editor. The editor, who lives in the Pacific...