Levelling Up – The Climb #229

Thursday 7^th September 2017

This evening was spent going over the new draft of my friend’s short story. I realise this is why I don’t offer to beta novels, as just a 4000 word story took me about 4 hours, which is quicker than the last time I read it.
Still, given how many hours Kate has spent reading Black as Knight, I really can’t complain. Plus, I’m finding the process enlightening about my own progress. I quite like the story, although I still made a ton of changes and suggestions. By the sounds of the quick feedback I got, they are welcome.
But I still can’t get over how much I’ve levelled up this year. One of the reasons I was happy to reread the short story (other than being massively in Kate’s debt for all the beta reads she’s done for me) was because I wanted to see if it felt more solid, or whether the changes I had suggested had just made it turn left instead of right, changed red for blue. It’s been a bit like watching the work I’ve been doing on Black as Knight from the outside. I can see how Kate has taken my comments and made them her own, and how the story has started to solidify into something more concrete. It feels a much better story. It feels (and I’m sure she won’t mind me saying this) even more professional.
Sometimes when you have your nose to the grindstone, it’s hard to see progress. Indeed, with my swordifighting, being surrounded by so many good fighters makes it feel like you’ve plateaued most of the time. It’s not quite so bad as a writer. I feel I’ve massively improved as a writer, but it’s taken something that I’m not emotionally attached to (i.e. not one of my own stories) to see how far my editing has come.
And it’s not about whether the changes I’ve suggested or not are accepted. It’s more the fact that I can go through a manuscript and be absolutely ruthless and end up with something that feels so much more solid. The fact that I’m able to identify these changes isn’t just some fluke of my own novel but an actual levelling up of my editing ability. Considering I never felt I had anything in the way of an editing process, and felt a bit mystified by it all, I’m quite proud of myself, and have really enjoyed going over Kate’s manuscript.
I’m also still enjoying Warcraft. The latest section of Argus opened yesterday and I’ve been pretty good at keeping on top of the content. I know this usually ends with me burning out, but I’m on a writing vacation.
Also had an old player come back to the guild tonight. We chat on Facebook so it wasn’t some big reunion, but it feels like the start of rebuilding the guild.
I’ve also continued to do the invasions to level up Alts (although those are in guilds of their own so I have the bank space).
I probably need to start working on making some money as I need to buy some new bank tabs for the old Horde guild. Hopefully I can get it up and running before I dive back into the second draft of the second book and not be able to spend as much time online.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.