What! Another revision
Still working on my new book, 100 Days of Tramping.
It’s been growing from the 42,000 words I transferred over from my blog on tramping.net.nz back in May, to over double that now. I’m not adding bulk just for the sake of it, more additional stuff to help explain my statements, fill out my story to make it more rounded and readable. And interesting.
Each of the revisions has resulted in a fair expansion of the text, and the current one is no exception.
This time I’ve gone through the text and outlined what I had written about each day, surprisingly varied other than talking about gloomy summer weather and the trail demands, and thought, Is this the most of what I can say here?
For instance, I arrived at D’Urville Hut one sunny lunchtime, noted that I had first been there when I was 16. And had been back a few times subsequently.
There’s so much to write about. The passage of time, how you change, and don’t, over the course of adulthood. The discussion isn’t limited to tramping, it’s the possibilities about thinking about Life in general, decisions made, etc.
I want to turn the book into more than just a story of walking for a few weeks, into something more significant. Making the most of the opportunities that I have set up, and even recognising them in the first instance.
I’m also plugging each chapter into grammarly.com, the unpaid, basic version, which is a little more than being able to check the spelling. It notes any repetition of the words, over-usage, and it tells you when you are using adverbs, something that is a no-no in good writing apparently, an error I make all the time. Grammarly.com gives you a new way to look at what you have written. Of course you don’t need to follow the advice, I think I would eradicate most of the aspects of what has turned out to be my particular style.
Yeah, it seems to be taking longer than anticipated but clearly I think it’s worthwhile putting in the effort.
If you are getting something out there for the Universe to appreciate you might as well get it as good as it can be right from the start.