Editing the Crap Out of It

I'm currently editing a novel, and it happens to be my own! Yes, for the first time since high school (and bless my friends for reading anything I wrote back then) I have written a full length novel. I was inspired by my many friends who have tackled National Novel Writing Month in past years, so I decided this year would be mine. I had some ideas kicking around from my short story class, and in the end I picked one I thought would be the most fun to write and just started writing, no plan, just a vague idea of what the ending would be.

More than 50,000 later, and I have the first draft of a novel I am now in the throes of editing, but they are great throes. It's not going to win me that Pulitzer (but you will be mine one day, my little friend), but it's certainly better than nothing. I'm a finisher, so getting something like this done is a treat for me all on its own.

For those interested (and if you are reading this far, I hope you are interested, you weirdo), here is an excerpt:

“Does it really have to be a newt?” Cheryl was digging around on her hands and knees in the briars at the back of the cemetery, mud starting to cake under her fingernails.

“Yes, newts are the only animals that have the right neurotoxin to destabilize the molecules in the potion.” Kimberley kept watch over her shoulder as she stood next to Cheryl and held up her torch.

The blaze from the lighted stick threw deep shadows down both their faces, making them look like sinister old hags, instead of pleasant twenty-something women in jogging clothes.

Kimberley had studied biochemistry as an undergraduate at Yale, along with her minor in seventeenth and eighteenth century American folklore. She had never known why she was drawn to these subjects, but after she had gone home with a man in a bar a couple months ago, a man who turned out to be not only married but a member of a storied family with a complicated magical past, it made more sense.

And now she was cursed.

The torch sputtered in the midnight breeze. Both women shivered.

“Hold the torch a little lower, I can't tell if that's a newt or a candy bar wrapper.” Cheryl wiped her hair out of her face with the back of her hand. “And why did it have to be a torch? Don't you think people will notice?”

“Like I said in the car, anything like a flashlight will emit EM radiation that could taint our specimens. It throws off the magic.” Kimberley lowered the torch closer to Cheryl's back, careful not to singe her hoodie.

“Well, it will definitely throw off the magic if I bring back a Snickers instead of a newt.” Cheryl sat back on her heels and held up a small, squirming animal for Kimberley to inspect.

“You're just hungry. This is the one. Put it in the leather satchel and let's go.”

“Finally.”

They both turned towards the cemetery gates to go.


And if you're interested in some sparkling wine, what with it being a new year and all, might we recommend the J Brut Rosé ($38). This is from one of our favorite vineyards and is a lovely wine that has just the right amount of sweet and tart. We recommend drinking it while typing the next great American novel.

Score: She gives is a 4, he gives it a 4.5

Recommend: But of course.