Revise or Rewrite?

I am revisiting an old manuscript I wrote a few years ago, my Hurricane Katrina YA novel. Hopefully I have learned a thing or two (or three) about writing since I finished the first draft 3 ½ years ago.

I dug the story out a few weeks ago, along with tons of hurricane info. I was trying to find information on birds trapped inside the eye of a hurricane for my critique partner, Jennifer Lambe, because she’s working on this great non-fiction book about weird weather. I read a few pages of the manuscript, the end specifically, and had the ‘I love this story’ moment. Now I want to revise the manuscript, for myself at the very least, to see if I can make the story stronger.

I started with the synopsis (still under construction) and made some plot notes. Now I’m thinking, Is an entire rewrite in order?

Have you ever opened a blank document and rewritten the same story over again two or three years later? I did it once and the story came out so much better. I’m hoping the same thing could happen here. Only one way to find out.

Road Trip Research

I took another trip down the Natchez Trace Parkway this week with my research assistant/photographer (my daughter). There were a few stops on the 444-mile trek that I needed to revisit to clear up some setting details for my book.
One of the highest points in the state of Mississippi is at the Jeff Busby site. I thought we would have to take the hiking trail up to the overlook summit, but the park service has made it easy for everyone to see the beautiful view. You can drive right up to the area and park your car. For the more adventurous, there is a hiking trail down from the summit to the campground area. We hiked part of the way down the trail. I think my daughter would have happily hiked the whole way, but my failure to pack bug spray and knowing that the hike down was the easy part, made us turn back about halfway down the trail.

This is a photo of another hiker we saw at the top of the trail.

I am glad that I made it to the Jeff Busby site again. The convenience store and gas station previously located there is now closed. The pay telephone that was of great interest to my character in the first draft of my story has been removed from the site. There is good cell phone reception at the overlook point, something I would not have known without a visit.

For readers: Do you enjoy reading books set in real locations more than stories set in fictional towns?

For writers: Do you find it easier to write about real places or made-up locales?

The Dreaded Synopsis

For non-writer readers of this blog, a synopsis is a summary of a manuscript required by editors and agents. This means that a writer has to reduce an entire story to a few pages. If we were good at this, we would be songwriters, not novelists.

Here are a few links that have helped me in synopsis writing:

Writing the Tight Synopsis by Author Beth Anderson

Conquering the Dreaded Synopsis by Author Lisa Gardner

How to Write a Synopsis by Agent Nathan Bransford


I am fine-tuning the synopsis for my current Work In Progress. I changed my writing process to create the synopsis before starting a new manuscript a couple of projects ago. Writing the synopsis first and adjusting it as the story unfolds means that I don’t have this huge dreaded task waiting for me when I figuratively type The End.

If writing a book was like enjoying a multi-course meal, would the synopsis be your appetizer or the dessert?

Summer Reading Lists

Some of my favorite summer memories from childhood include the public library. I still enjoy perusing summer reading lists, which I consider to be a gold mine of new books and authors for me to try.

The 2009 summer reading lists are out. Click here to see the Top 10 Summer reading Lists for Kids and Teens.

If kid lit is not your thing, Romance Writers of America’s website lists the current romance novels released each month.

How do you choose which books you’re going to read?
A. Reading Lists/Bestseller Lists
B. Friend recommendations
C. Bookstore/Library browsing
D. All of the Above

Late To The Party

Have you ever read a book people have been raving about for months or even years to find you absolutely love it? If so, you probably were thrilled to find one, two, three or more books in the series ready for immediate reading.

I joined the legions of Harry Potter fans when the first movie was released. I try to follow the book-before-movie rule so I read Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone before seeing the movie. I was hooked.

I had the same experience recently after reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The main character, middle schooler Greg Heffley is now on my list of favorite characters. After reading the first book in the series, I had to read books two and three. Now I am looking forward to the release of book four this fall.

Is it better to find a series at book one and enjoy them as they are released? Or is it just as fun to finally cave to peer pressure to read a book you immediately fall in love with and get the benefit of a series already underway?

Free Resources for Writers

There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

You get what you pay for.

There are many oneliners that link skepticism with the word free. But how about free information for pre-published/newly-published/multi-published writers? There are several e-mail newsletters just waiting to make their way to your inbox on a weekly or monthly basis free of charge. Here are a few you might want to try:

Guide to Literary Agents newsletter: great information on new agents, where agents are speaking, etc.

PW Daily: news snippets on changes in publishing and a weekly newsletter with sales for the week.

PW Children’s Bookshelf: news on the latest releases in children’s books along with author interviews and publisher info. My favorite part of this newsletter is the comic strip at the bottom titled “Tales from the Slush Pile”. Click here to subscribe to these and other PW newsletters.

The Horn Book: a monthly newsletter with author/illustrator interviews and info on upcoming children’s books.

School Library Journal e-newsletters on books for children & SLJTeen for info on YA books.


Are you a sucker for a GWP (Gift with Purchase)? This can be anything ranging from an umbrella to cosmetics available at no additional charge with a purchase. If so, don’t forget to sign up for newsletters and discussion loops in your professional writing organizations, like RWA & SCBWI.

Do you have any resources to add to the list?

What Genre Am I In?

When you walk into your favorite bookstore, do you roam about looking at all the books in all the sections? Probably not. I’ll bet you head for the area labeled with your favorite reads: romance, mystery, teen fiction, etc. Genre labels were created so that bookstores would know where to shelve the books to enable readers to find the books we love the most.

With the popularity of cross-genre books today, have you ever been confused about what label you should put on the book you are reading or writing? Literary agent Lucienne Diver of the Knight Agency gives a great detailed explanation of genres and sub-genres in this blog post.