Tuesday, May 26, 2009

SUMMER REVISION SMACKDOWN!

So, I teased that Holly and I had something revion-y up our sleeves. Well, here it is!





Summer Revision Smackdown: The Process and the Perks

  • Declare that you will crack the whip during the month of June and revel in revision with us.
  • State your own revision goals (pages per week, hours/day, picture book/dummy drafts). What do you want to accomplish by June 30?
  • Check in with us at the end of each week (Friday or Saturday) and report your progress by commenting on our blogs. We’ll alternate where to post, starting with Holly’s at the end of week 1, then over to Jolie’s at end of week two, then back to Holly, finally back to Jolie). No worries, we’ll remind you where to post every Friday.

Each Monday, Holly and Jolie will award THE WHIP OF THE WEEK to one Smackdowner who they feel has cracked the revision licorice whip the previous week.

During the month we will link to great spots to have a read on revision. Plus, you may just hear from some special guests, sharing tips and thoughts on revision.



At the end of June, Holly and Jolie will give one Smackdowner THE WHIPLASH AWARD for excellence in revision during the month of June. And that just might come with a cuppa something and your own personal licorice memento.



Don’t feel like you need to wait until June 1st to start…ready, set, werplash!

29 comments:

holly cupala said...

Yes! Let the Lash of Licorice begin!

Ha ha, my verification word (I tell you no lie) is: ingest.

So...ingest your revision goals, fellow authors and illustrators! Ingest!

Martha Brockenbrough said...

My state goals:

- to revise picture top secret picture book in progress
- to revise OTHER top secret picture book in progress
- to finish draft of novel and complete a revision schedule for that

My verfication word: iloca. I think they meant I loco.

Jaime Temairik said...

Yay!
My goals:
- to revise my non-top-secret dummy
- to make new final art for NTS dummy
- to revise other NTS dummy
- to make progress on a top secret goal that is totally top secret

C. N. Nevets said...

I love licorice and I love revision, so this rocks!

Right now, my revision is all going to be short stories, but I have a gadzoodle of them to go through, so I'd sure like to see in addition to whatever I revise for my usual one submission per week, some of my long-overdue major overhauls taken care of.

So my normal writing week is ~4K of new material and ~3K of revision -- counting the final submission length of the story, not number of actual words turned around which can be a whole lot more or a whole lot fewer.

For the smackdown, I would thow out an additional ~6.5K of overhaul-level revision per week.

By the end of the month, I'd also like to be finished chunking through the ~17K of novel WIP that my wife Rose and I have to now conform to our outline (which, egads, means giving it a plot).

Whew. Holy schlamoley (sp?).

.Nevets.

Anonymous said...

I'm in, Jolie! Details to come.

Robin Mellom said...

I'm in!!!
:-)

Julie Reinhardt said...

I'm in. Big fan of licorice, too. Do we get to eat licorice while revising? I'm going to..
1) Finally nail a satisfying ending to my beginning chapter book.
2) Re-write PB with the constructive critique from conference.

My verification word is: remet. At the end of June, I will have "remet" these two manuscripts.

Cuppa Jolie said...

Welcome to the Smackdown everyone! Keep 'em coming.

Kirby Larson said...

As I posted over at Holly's blog, I'm bad at following rules (probably because I followed them most of my life and am over that now). So I will publicly declare that I'm revising right along with you awesome writers but that's the best I can do.

But Winston promises to nip me on the ear if I don't work every day.

Vivian Mahoney said...

I am in! I'm going to finish the FINAL revision. It's time. Thanks!

Sara Easterly said...

Okay, buddies. I'm in!

But I'm tweaking your rules a tad and planning to finish my rewrite by end of June... then officially revising in July.

Bring on the licorice lashing!

i, chihuahua said...

you whip wielders are awesome!

my stated goals:

-revise my graphic novel (gn) manuscript

-finish the artwork for my gn submission.

-submit! submit to the whip!

Jennifer K. Mann said...

Okay. I'm in too.
Revise current PB ms
Revise current PB illustrations
Start dummy for next PB
And I just have to say that red licorice laces caused me to throw up at a fourth grade sleepover, so I may request black, if that's okay.

Michèle Griskey said...

I'm in. I have a screenplay I wrote for a class last winter that I am turning into a YA novel. A certain editor showed some interest during the conference, so I am motivated to get this thing done!

Robin Gaphni said...

I'm in! (Even though I hate licorice and am much more motivated by chocolate.)

Goals:
To finally finish draft of middle grade novel which has been floundering on the sidelines for a couple of months now, and submit to critique group.

To polish up early chapter book based on constructive comments from SCBWI Conference.

Bring on June!

HelenL said...

My goal is to revise my YA novel per my agent's suggestions by June 13th. This includes one full revision, one "tweak" draft, and a final copyedit.

Anonymous said...

I hate licorice, but can use a whippin' nonetheless. Goals for June:
1) Revise first 3 chapters of YYC based on conf critique feedback.
2) Revise entire proposal package for YYC based on the perfectly amazing conf sessions from http://www.deborahreber.com.
3) Send in the query for YYC--FINALLY!
4) Revise assignment #10 and get it sent in--also FINALLY!

All with kids home from school in just two weeks? Phew! This could be a tall order.

Anonymous said...

Yay revisions! Yay licorice!

My goal is to work 3 hrs/day, 5 days/week in June. I'd like to think this would put me well on my way to completing this round of revisions, but I honestly have no idea how fast/slow this process is going to be. So consistency in effort is as specific a goal as I can make right now. :)

Anonymous said...

My goal is one hour a day on revising my MG. Breaks do not count towards the hour.
Susan M. Phelan

BJW said...

This is what I wrote on the other link:

All right damnit, I'm in.

I hate accountability and like Kirby I never do the writing exercises in writing books.

However, desperation drives a man to funny places. Like Sequim. Or Canada.

Goals: In bed before 11 every night, up at 7. Three chapters by July... (que panicking)

Susan K. Mitchell - Children's Author said...

In the immortal words of Devo --- Ah, whip it .... ah, whip it. Whip it good!

My smackdown goals are to revise at least 2 existing, unsold picturebook manuscripts each month in summer - so 6 total.

Bring on the licorice! I can take it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbt30UnzRWw

Paula Yoo said...

Hi! Just posted my blog here and I'm signing up to participate. Not sure how much I'll get done - trying to work on a couple of first drafts of other projects, but I have a troublesome YA novel I need to revise and perhaps turn into a mid gr., so I figure somehow I can try to keep that alive with SRS! http://paulayoo.com/content/summer-revision-smackdown-mon-6109
xo
Paula Yoo

Molly Hall said...

I want to do it! Am I too late? I am having trouble breaking revision down into manageable bits. So, I will have to meditate on my goals... I think this is such a fabulous idea!

Molly

Cuppa Jolie said...

Molly...you're definitely not too late! Join us.

StinkyLulu said...

My stated goals for June:

- to revise PB#1 based on recent critique & ready it for next step
- to slash PB#2 wordcount and in process determine its future
- to stitch fragments of YA novel into narrative order & identify gaps that need to be filled

Thanks!

Brian aka StinkyLulu

Amy-Baskin.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for cracking the whip with the SRS!

My goals are:
1) to revise my current picture book drafts;
2) to write a chapter of either my chapter book or my MG manuscript;
3) to choose and send in one for the SCBWI LA critique
4)to keep on keepin' on!

Erika Parker Price said...

Hi, I know I'm late to the party, but still want to join with my MG novel! The agent that is interested recommended a book doctor and I just received her 7 page editorial letter. Of course, it arrived the same week my kids get out of school. Perfect timing!

Goals:
1) 10 hours/week revising (and, no, that doesn't count blogging, surfing, emailing...)
2) Finish first revision by 6/30

jfkeeler said...

My goals for June is to finish the first draft of my novel by the time school's out for my kids. That would be next by next Tuesday, the 16th.

My other goal is to start revision on that draft this month. I don't know how many pages a day I should do. I'll investigate that. Right now, my goal each day is to write a 1,000 words a day.

Cuppa Jolie said...

I LOVE that people are still joining the party! Welcome, welcome! Now crack that whip.