I wouldn’t say my methods are as intensive as yours, but there are some parallels. I used to hate outlining as a young writer, and now I never start a story unless I know, at least roughly, the beginning, middle and end. (And often much more.) I wonder sometimes how writers manage to tell coherent stories without plotting at least to some degree!

For me, I attack it in waves. The first is the main pass-through after original draft is complete. Here, I attack main plotholes, look for consistency, polish any obvious mistakes and fix things I thought of as I was writing it. When I’m in the middle of a draft, I don’t tend to go back and work on prior bits so I can keep up the forward momentum.

Then, once it’s presentable, I give it to readers and also post chapters on the online writing workshop I am part of. Once I get enough feedback from them, I draw up a revision checklist and start tackling the issues one at a time. After this overhaul, it’s one more pass through to again look for consistency issues the editing might’ve caused. After that, it’s usually fine-tuning/tweaking as I notice things or get further feedback.

I outline enough to get me started, just basic points and some main scenes…and then I just start writing and don’t stop until it’s done. I print out a hard copy and go through making edit and revision notes, then type my changes in. The first draft goes to betas so I can incorporate their comments into my hard-copy pass (or not, depending), then after the type-in, it’s back out to final readers and a line-editor. One more pass to get anything taken care of that the final readers/editor marked, and that’s it. Or that’s the direction I’m heading anyways (just about to the final reader/edit part). If I did much more than that, I’d overwork it. Just my nature. :-)

Sounds like you’re enjoying the process…good luck! :-)

Also, this would offer me an opportunity to slum in Boulder with my bro, but still. I need to do a writers’ conference!

*begins plotting*

Things I like about it:
I love the portability of it, and I love having tons of reading material in one simple, lightweight reader. I also like the e-ink because I can read for much longer without it hurting my eyes. And since I was in grad school when I got it – and since I still have access to my university’s online journal database and love reading journal articles, I love being able to send pdfs and Word docs to the Kindle. I haven’t researched other e-readers, so I’m not sure if they have this feature, as well. Highlighting is easy – just a click and drag of the side button, and I can store all my “clippings” in an accessible folder for later review.

Things I wish it had:
- E-library
- Free in-store reading! That’s a really awesome thing about the nook. Granted, Amazon doesn’t have a “store” but it would be great if they could work out a deal with Starbucks or something. I would love that.

I’ve always… always been pulled towards paranormal or magic realism elements. I like reality with spice or subtle escapism. I love books that can keep me grounded and feeling as if those odd things could really happen.

I never write JUST romance, but all my stories also have to involve some sort of romance on the side because I thrive off of character relationships and dynamics.