Tag: revising

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...

Where I am Now

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on August 28, 2014. Posted in General. 8 Comments on Where I am Now

For those of y’all following my novel(s) saga, I thought you might like an update. Also, I need your support—just getting it out here helps me feel I’m not all alone on this journey! TRAIN TRIP: LUCINDA MAE’S QUEST FOR LOVE, HONOR AND THE CHICKENS, is being read and considered by four agents. Many queries are still outstanding, and I have...

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...

The Power of the Ear

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on May 1, 2014. Posted in General. 4 Comments on The Power of the Ear

How many words are there in the entire universe yet, in an 86,000 word novel, how many times in the last, read-aloud review have I run across the same word used again within a breath of itself? “You, in point of fact, are still over dry land,” my observant friend pointed out. Or words with an unintended rhyming effect: “Not...

Word to the Wise: Pay Attention to Your Beta Readers

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on February 5, 2014. Posted in General. 3 Comments on Word to the Wise: Pay Attention to Your Beta Readers

Three years ago, or maybe four, a man I did not know arrived at my writing group, and during a long conversation about the first chapter of The Bone Trench, he said, “I’m ready to see Cat Thomas return.” I assured him Cat, who opened the novel in a brief scene, would be back shortly, specifically at the beginning of the next...

Vangie Street, Stuck on the Runway

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on December 19, 2013. Posted in General. No Comments on Vangie Street, Stuck on the Runway

I want to work on my novel. They want me to buy Christmas presents. And wrap Christmas presents. And think about food for Christmas. And pack to leave town for Christmas. But Vangie Street is stuck on the runway. She keeps taking a knee—is she Teebowing? Will anyone even remember that phrase in five years?—and popping up like toast. She grins,...

The Land Behind Pickwick Lake

Written by Ellen Morris Prewitt on July 25, 2012. Posted in General. No Comments on The Land Behind Pickwick Lake

One novel is under consideration by two publishers and an agent. Another is with a final set of readers. I’m revising my first set of interlocking short stories. Suddenly, I’m running like a well-oiled writing machine. These very early short stories are good. Their problems lie mostly in mechanics. Too many words to describe simple movements....