I’m not sure if it’s experience or necessity that enables a writer to churn out finished product faster. I’m curious to know. Most likely it’s a combination of both things and knowing you don’t have to alter your writing to please an editor because she’s read your work before and found something about it she liked. In any case, just a few months ago it would have taken me months to edit and polish product before it was worthy enough to be seen in public. I still need plenty of editing and good critiques, but I’m far more likely now to avoid duplicate words, too many dialogue tags and other craft issues that used to take me multiple passes to catch.
My process now is writing chapter by chapter, editing as I go, going over critiques, and then being finished. There’s no setting it aside to sit, only because there’s no time.
Ah, now that I’ve done my good behavior, I’m taking time off to read a few good books. I need to recharge and reading a good romance is always guaranteed to do that for me.
While I’m recharging, I’ll work on my upcoming RTB column, which will be up on Friday (and yes, I’m counting that as part of April’s WORD. 
) and working with the writer who bought my critique for Jamie’s Fund.
That’s my process now too. It’s a heck of a lot easier to write chapter by chapter and edit as one goes as opposed to “vomiting” it all out and then dealing with the mess.
For me, it’s knowing where I am and what I want to do with my writing, as opposed to the past, when I was overly anxious and nitpicky about the small, stupid stuff that doesn’t matter in the long run. But congrats and feel free to reward yourself with a good romance!
by Evangeline April 4th, 2005 at 5:10 pm