It has been at least three years since I participated in a writing class, but that is all about to change tomorrow, if one more person signs up that is. The class tomorrow is supposed to help me clean up my first draft by showing me where to cut down scenes to make them more clear, less wordy. Sometimes authors, including myself at times, think that their words are so magnificent that each one is too important to delete. This oftentimes clutters the page, leaving a boring, unfulfilled mess for the reader. The thing is, authors have a hard time seeing the mess right away. It's important for them to distance themselves from their work so that when they get back to it, they'll see the flaws more easily.
I'm not taking my own advice at the moment. Since proclaiming my first draft complete, I started reading it at about the halfway mark. I wrote several comments to myself and am filling in some of the areas that had me confused. Once that is complete, I'll try to take two weeks off before rewriting it from the beginning. It's hard though because I'm anxious to get it in the hands of my pre-readers as I like to call them. I need their eyes to point out my mistakes and weak spots. For some reason, I have no patience!
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