Random Thoughts and a Question for You

This is most likely the lamest post I will ever write. When I come up with an even lamer one a few months from now, please forget that I said this one would be the lamest.

Between rewriting one novel, revising another, and going through a third for a writing buddy, I'm drawing a complete blank on interesting topics to blog on. All my brain power is taken up with actual writing work. One thing I can mention that I learned the other day affects all of us writers looking for someone to publish our work: apparently, the two spaces between sentences format is as obsolete as a typewriter. Back when I started writing in high school, I used one space between sentences and was informed that was wrong. I had to use two spaces. Over the course of the next couple of months, I trained myself to double-tap the space bar after a sentence, and everyone was happy. Now, I'm hearing that this is wrong. Brian A. Klems wrote about it on his Questions & Quandaries blog over at Writer's Digest. Click here to read what he has to say about it. So, on top of all my rewriting, revising, and reading, I'm trying to retrain myself to only put one space between sentences and replacing double spaces in my writings with single spaces.

And people think writing isn't real work. Ha! They should try writing sixty to eighty thousand words, then revise it all repeatedly while learning about things like using one space instead of two. For me, the creation of the work is easy compared to the revision/rewrite process. Nearly everyone I've talked to (other than writers) think writing the first draft is the hard part. Nope, getting the story down is simple. Changing entire sections to make them exciting, tighten up the writing, and improve the wording is the hard part. Though that's not entirely accurate. It's not so much difficult as it is tedious. Don't get me wrong, there are times when I'm ready to bang my head against the wall in frustration when I can't find the perfect way to say what I want. But the hardest part is seeing what's actually on the page, and not what I remember from the last six times I read through it. That's why letting the manuscript sit for a while between revisions is so important. It gives you a chance to get away from the story so that when you come back to it, you're more likely to catch things you missed the last time through. Getting someone else to read your manuscript is a great way to see how others will react to your story, and they'll also find things you're blind to because you're close to the story (it's your baby, after all!).

Looking back over this post, I guess I did have something to say. Ignore the fact that I called this a lame blog post. The thoughts in it may be completely random and not really connected to each other, but hopefully you wonderful readers will get something out of it. Even if all you do is get a laugh out of it, I've done my job. Entertaining and informing are two of the main reasons I write. Give me enough time and I'm sure I can come up with a few more. In the meantime, what are some of the reasons you write? And it doesn't have to be a novel or even a short story. If you're commenting on here, you likely have a blog. What caused you to start it? I'm always curious to know why people do things. I look forward to seeing what everyone has to say.