New Year's Resolutions Update

I just finished rewriting my Blue WIP this week, and I’m incredibly happy with the way that it turned out.  The rewrite was grueling, and I know that I still have a lot of work left, but I can see the progress from a first draft to a second revision. 

As I’ve said before, the Blue WIP was an experiment in attempting to write a novel without planning in advance, and to be honest, I don’t feel like that’s the most effective way for me to write.  I truly admire those who can just start and find out what happens as they go along.  It’s something that I can’t do, and I’m not embarrassed to admit it.  Every writer has their own strengths and weaknesses.  Mine happens to be that I write very well when everything is planned out. 

After my first draft, I knew I had to go back and revise, but this time I had a plan.  I added two new characters and made my main character suffer.  I also increased the tension and the threat in the scenes.  Just those few changes (pretty major changes), have made a huge difference in the pacing, the plot and the readability. 

Another great asset to rewriting was that I started reading much more and I started to see patterns in what drew me in and what I found boring.  I found that as I kept reading, it became much easier to see plot turns and twists and to be able to put it in my own writing.  

Now that I’ve finished, I can cross off the first of my New Year’s Resolutions and begin on the second one.  One out of four and got another one halfway done. 

How are the rest of you doing on your resolutions?