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Rewriting a novel...or 2

So I had this aha moment with my writing and decided to restart my 1st and 6th novel...yeah.  As soon as that gut instinct hit me and I went into the files, I could not stop writing.  It was wonderful:)  It really is all about taking time away from your work so when you are ready to come back to it, you see it in a totally new light!  Atleast that's how I work. 

Everyone's process is so different, it always interests me. 

I never outline or plan ahead.  I jump into my first draft very anatomically.  My first draft ends up being the skeletal form of my novel.  But I never went to med school, so by the 3rd draft, I'm usually moving the bones or using different bones altogether to get my story straight.

2nd drafts are new layers of nerves, getting some more blood flow into the work.

3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, you've got organs, muscle, fat, and then the skin.  All of this happens as my characters become really multi-dimensional, making their own choices and driving the story, while I write it all down, trying to keep up with them, listening to them, understanding them and their motivations and decisions.

The skin is the top layer, where it all shapes together into something finished, recognizable.  Maybe my 8th draft.

All of those layers added together breathe, move, become alive.

How about you?  What is your writing process look like?  (A little less gory and gross than mine perhaps?)

Thanksgiving is a day for being grateful!

Be well, peaceful, happy! Be grateful and present. Today you are alive. And today I am having a vegan thansgiving feast with my boyfriend (who is a meat eater!). I am extremely grateful for the positive environmental impact we both will have on the planet today. PEACE.

Back to Writing:)

The single miraculous thing you can do for your writing is TAKE A BREAK! Stepping away from your work, then coming back to it can lend a fresh perspective! No exaggerating, it can absolutely improve your writing. While I break from one novel, I work on another one for a couple months. That extended period of time works wonders:) I see things more clearly and have new insights for editing and evolving the story/characters. Something I knew in the back of mind I would do for years has finally hit me and thus happened. I sat down with my first novel from yeeaars ago ready to really get it up to par with my present writing abilities. I am into chapter 4 and things are already a world better. I'm so ecstatic and can't wait to query my "new" old book.

writing retreat.....aka my boyfriend's place

So with the three crazy storms on track for hitting Cali all week, I decided there's no point in going back to my place just yet--I am NOT driving to LA in these conditions. It'd take three hours each way, if not longer!!!!! So yeah. I was in PGH for three weeks, came back, and now looking forward to my second week of not going "home" just yet. It's the last place in the world I want to call home, hence me avoiding it proactively. If I could live in OC with my boyfriend and make the drive to LA for an occasional audition, I'd live. But as soon as I start getting my one or two auditions a day like I had before my winter vacation, that's when I'm going to have to head back.

SO--my boyfriend's place is now declared a writing retreat! I'm dropping a thousand words a day on this new novel of mine. I started it Jan. 3rd and it's officially as long as my 5th novel, and I started that novel in August!!

That's why I love writing multiple novels at the same time. I really need lengthy breaks away from each story to clear my head and be open to what my character's tell me they want to do next (this is my weird writing process, I'm sure you writers out there all have your own). As I take my months long break from my 5th, I did really clear my head, and ended up with a new novel on my hands. I've been going to town on the 6th novel, ever since I had the dream that inspired it. And this morning I felt, it's about time I take a stab at finishing my 4th draft of my 4th novel (it needs some lengthening, some real juicy story dimension added). Then, when I need a break from the 4th or 6th, I can go back to my 5th novel.

YAY boyfriend's writing retreat place! As long as I'm here, not acting, modeling, juggling, or unicycle-riding, it meeeaaans I can concentrate on WRITING:):):)

NEW NOVEL!

OK! So on my flight back to OC (Orange County), I got out my new netbook and managed to write over 3000 words in my new novel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a 3 1/2 hour flight. When it flows, man oh man does it FLOW! Of course this is probably no comparison to my second novel's first draft, which I wrote and FINISHED entirely in TWO days, 25,000 words. Yeah, nothing's ever going to beat that. But this is still pretty exciting:)

I was inspired by a dream for my new (6th) novel that I had the night of January 2nd. I got up the next morning and was so overcome by inspiration, I felt like I was in my novel's world the entire day as I thought about it and as I wrote. It felt so magical. I was concerned that it has to do with vampires because--how am I going to sell a book about VAMPIRES in this over-saturated market? But I came to terms with the fact that you can't question those creative fireworks inside you. When this creation is starting and telling you to bring it to life, to deny it would be to deny the aliveness inside you. If this is what needs to come out of me right now, who am "I" to argue? It's not about "me"...creativity has a bigger voice from a bigger place that creates through us little humans.

Also, who am I to argue with the fact that the female vampire in my dream wanted to sing A Part of Your World from A Little Mermaid??

ANYWAYS, so I'm on my 1st draft of my 5th and 6th novels and 4th draft of my 4th novel. My goal is to complete the 4th novel this year. Besides these bursts of writing that seem to hit me, I feel like I'm a pretty slow writer in comparison with others. I hear about people writing a novel a year and I scream HOOOWWWW??? Actually I just think it, but that's because I'm polite, and DEFINITELY NOT crazy. Believe me, I have a piece of paper I printed out from the internet that tells me so. That's right, THE internet.

OK! Hope I gave you at least one laugh:) How long does it take you guys to write? Does anyone else get those bursts of writing and then can't seem to look at your novel for weeks?

I've totally stopped querying, by the way, because it makes me sad, hahaha. How do you all stay motivated to keep querying?