TMG: Flights & Chimes Giveaway

The Midnight Garden is hosting a give away of one awesome looking book: Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne.

Early Synopsis:

A boy accidentally travels from his home in Victorian London to an alternate, fairy-populated, steam-clogged version of the city, only to be caught in a web of dangerous politics; his only hope of returning home lies with the legend of an enormous, wish-granting clockwork bird.

Check out the contest (and the GORGEOUS cover art)

Wednesdays with Wart: The Dreaded Edit

Hello and welcome to my first ever 'Wednesdays with Wart' post. Basically, Wednesdays with Wart is my attempt to make sure I regularly update this blog. So, pretty much expect a post every Wednesday on some topic related to writing, books, or Crochet.

This week's topic: editing!

I'll be honest with you, I'm atrocious at editing. I am very very lazy. But Editing is important. So important I felt the need to capitalize it in that sentence (it's not a typo I'm leaving for funzies, I swear). I have this bad habit of just skimming over whatever I've written - be it an essay or a story - and that's not enough because, inevitably, I will miss something.

So, how to make sure you edit? Here's some things I do:

Write by hand first. I do this for two reasons: 1. The internet is really distracting. 2. When I go to type, I will edit as I type.

Type the second draft on a typewriter. Again, the internet is really distracting, and again I can edit when I retype on my computer. Also, I just really like using a typewriter :)

Take a break. Once I've finished something, I'll set it aside for awhile. At least a few weeks, preferably longer, because then when I come back to it I'll have cleared my mind of all the many rereads I've already done and while it won't be fresh and new, it will at least be less recent in my mind and I'll be able to look closer at it because I won't skim parts I think I remember well enough.

So, there are my editing strategies! What about you? What editing strategies do you have?

Next week on Wednesdays With Wart: Dear Rick Riordan, Demeter could totally Kill you.