By Leslie Lindsay
A curated newsletter on the literary life, featuring ‘4 questions,’ reading & listening recommendations, where to submit, more
Leslie Lindsay|Always with a Book
~MUSINGS & MEANDERINGS~
Hello, Dog Days of Summer
Is this your final edit?
I’ve recently started thinking about my final edit. Not in final-final, as in I am about to publish a book, but final as in I am about to submit to an agent. Or query for one. So what does that look like?
Here are some tips:
- Your final edit should be dispassionate and ruthless. Your best mindset should be that you are willing to give up your attachment of your story as-is. Be open to possibility. Be aware that there may be still be (major) changes down the road.
- Put yourself in the reader’s seat. What’s their experience like reading your work? Let the story wash over you. Experience it in it’s totality, not just snippets or a chapter. Where do you lose interest? Where do you feel distracted? Where does something just not make sense. If this weren’t your book, would you keep reading?
- Everything should flow through your throughline. Make changes if the beat, scene, chapter doesn’t support your throughline. It doesn’t matter how well-written it is or how ‘attached’ you are to it.
- Show your character(s) making choices to grow. Don’t let us get bogged down in telling us about their growth from looking back. That’s kind of boring. We want to see your protagonist make bad choices and then correct them.
- Identify and regularly re-evaluate your narrative threads. Like all the time! Writers are over-thinkers. Do your job. : ) Keep things present and current, even at a subliminal level.
- Can you choose a physical object to illustrate your character’s growth. For me, I have a stained glass piece that appears and reappears throughout.
- Establish and then move on. You don’t need to belabor the point. Look for repetition. Remove it.
- Frequently ask yourself: doesn’t this belong in my story? It might be a chapter, a character, a word, verb, sentence…you may love it, but if it doesn’t ‘go,’ ditch it!
- You might also want to make a list of all the words you tend to over-use. Some will be specific to you and others specific to the particular work. For me, ‘liminal’ came up a lot. Build did, too. Other word that don’t tend to add much are : which, that, little, every, always, nothing, sometimes, like, about, almost…really. That one, too. 🙂
“You don’t find out you’re an artist because you do something really well. You find out you’re an artist because when you fail you have something within you–strength or belief or just craziness–that picks you back up.”
-Junot Diaz
- Have fun with it! I kept a list of words I over-used and cut. ALso, it’s fun to see how many words you can shave each time you edit. Start with your full manuscript. Set a timer for 20 or 30 minutes. Cut. Then see what your word count is. Cutting words almost always makes it better!
Question:
What works for you in your final edit? Which of these tips might you use?What did I miss?
Respond here in a comment, or find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.
xx,
~Leslie : )
This issue of Musings & Meanderings is jam-packed with some really great stuff to get your [writing and reading] year off on the right foot. Coaching, book recommendations, journals to submit to, reading recommendations, author interviews, recently published prose, and a quick 4 questions insights interview with Kristy Woodson Harvey on her novel, THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS (Harper, July 11). I have new poetry up at Ballast, Neologism Poetry Journal, Empyrean, and a photo-essay featuring miniatures in On the Seawall.
There’s more to this newsletter. Keep Scrolling.
By the way, I do not get any ‘kick-backs’ or other kind of payment (in-kind, or otherwise) for mentioning these classes/workshops/books/individuals. Sharing because if helps me, maybe it’ll speak to you, too.
Some Writerly Things:
- This Ohio Writing Workshop might appeal! Into the Spring Writing Workshops held at the historic Mills Hotel in Yellow Springs, Ohio, this looks delightful…single, shared, special events. August 4-6 2023. Special guests: Jane Friedman & Jason Sanford, two publishing experts
- Also, in August, you might like this class on poetic form, offered through Cleaver Magazine and taught by Alex Wells Shapiro.
- Fall might be more your speed. Check out this Arkansas Retreat and Conference October 12-14. Ozark Creative Writer’s : Writing in the Ozarks
- Maybe you’d like a manuscript consultation? Check out the process with the folks at StoryStudio Chicago. Maybe it’s for an MFA application, a novel or first chapter. Maybe you’re gearing up fall submission season for essays or short stories or residencies?
Some Readerly Things:
- It’s time Deborah Levy won the Booker Prize (after three times!) Check out this new novel, AUGUST BLUE (FSG, 2023) which has captured my interest!
- You might want to check out this podcast featuring Gayle Brandeis, author of most recently, the essay colleciton: DRAWING BREATH.
- I recently picked up a copy of Adrienne Brodeur’s novel, LITTLE MONSTERS. You may remember her searing memoir, WILD GAME a few years back. Both books take place on Cape Cod, involve family secrets, and more. Check out this quick 7-minute NPR interview with the author.
- Tell me what YOU are reading! I want to know : ) You can respond in the comments or some me an email or connect on IG.
New! Featured Author|Insights
Kristy Woodson Harvey
THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS: A Novel
Four women come together to save the summer camp that changed their lives and rediscover themselves in the process in this moving new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Wedding Veil and the Peachtree Bluff series.
Leslie Lindsay:
Without responding in complete sentences, what would you say THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS is about?
Kristy Woodson Harvey :
Childhood friendship, summer romance, overcoming obstacles with the help of the people you love most, and remembering the people and places in our lives that make us who we are!
Leslie Lindsay:
Where did you write THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS? Do you have any special writing routines or rituals? Do they change with each project, or remain constant over time?
Kristy Woodson Harvey :
Believe it or not, I was writing THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS way back in the summer of 2020 after a visit to “family camp” since our son couldn’t attend summer camp that year. I had so many memories from my own years at camp, and it was like the stories were coming out of the walls! Our house was under construction (such fun when we were all home during the pandemic!) and so I actually wrote most of this novel sitting at our dining room table.
I wish I could say I had some special routines or rituals, but I really don’t, other than that I try to write first thing in the morning, and, now that my office is completed, it’s such a treat to write there surrounded by shelves of my favorite books and floor-to-ceiling windows.
I started writing when my son was a newborn, mostly during middle-of-the-night feedings, so I think since I started out writing with a baby, then a toddler, I got used to getting my writing in in fits and starts. When I’m working on a first draft, though, I do try to write at least 2,000 words a day. But, usually, when the story really starts flowing, I can’t hold myself back from writing more!
Leslie Lindsay:
If you weren’t writing, you would be…
Kristy Woodson Harvey:
A country music star. I mean, I can’t sing… But does this have to be realistic?? Realistically, I’d be an interior designer. That’s my other love!
Leslie Lindsay:
What book did you recently read that you can’t stop thinking about?
Kristy Woodson Harvey :
The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry!
For more information, to purchase a copy of THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS or to connect with the author via social media, please visit her website.
“Equal parts moving and nostalgic, Kristy Woodson Harvey’s latest novel is a story of four friends who unite to save a summer camp and find out much more about friendship, love, and their own lives in the process.”
—Southern Living
About the Author:
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including The Wedding Veil, The Summer of Songbirds, and The Peachtree Bluff series, which is in development for television with NBC. A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism, her writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications including Southern Living, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, Domino, and O. Henry. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her books have received numerous accolades including Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Beach Reads, Parade’s Big Fiction Reads, and Entertainment Weekly’s Spring Reading Picks. Kristy is the cocreator and cohost of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic, and loves connecting with fans on KristyWoodsonHarvey.com. She lives on the North Carolina coast with her husband and son where she is (always!) working on her next novel.
Purchase The Summer of Songbirds HERE.
Browse my Bookshop.org for more books featured on Musings & Meanderings, and see what I’m https://bookshop.org/p/books/american-daughter-a-memoir-elissa-wald/14122656?ean=9780063054349reading in 2023…and more!
If, like me and Kristy, you’re drawn to interior design, you might also want to check out this memoir, AMERICAN DAUGHTER, written by an interior designer whose own mother struggled with drugs/alcohol, homelessness, mental illness, more. It really resonated with me–but it’s an intense read–trigger warnings: sex abuse, assault, ngelect, suicide.
Some Recently Published Interviews, Prose, Etc.:
- This piece, MODEL HOME: A Study Under Compression, in On the Seawall, is something I am so proud of. It was conceived in a craft store when I wandered down the model train aisle. At home, I already had the moss and tiny house and vials. I wanted to depict something with words and photography that would spotlight my family falling into disarray…my mother’s mental illness, the ‘perfect’ home, the family divided. This was my answer. It’s my first text + image publication. Here’s a sampling:
- I am bowled over by the reception my poem, CREVASSE, received by Luke Johnson in the Spring 2023 issue of Ballast. Check out our dialogue about one another’s work HERE. Also, that landing page! Swooning.
- You can find some of my other poetry at Empyrean Literary Journal. This piece was conceived in a workshop at StoryStudio Chicago in which the prompt was to combine two totally different things with one’s childhood street. I chose my grandfather’s profession as stained-glass artist and the year 1989. The resulting piece is COLLAPSE.
- This interview with poet Pattiann Rogers in LitHub was such a dream. Pattiann is 82-years-old and still writing and publishing poetry. This piece is about nature, curiosity, and the flickering that happens in all creatures.
- Super-excited about this illustrated review in DIAGRAM, which has sorta been like a dream place of mine to get work published. It’s a beautiful melding of all things that bring me joy: fonts, words, ideas, art, books, and the human body. I mean…the only obsessions missing for me is architecture, travel, nature, and basset hounds. Check it out and the book, YOUR HEARTS, YOUR SCARS: Essays by the late Adina Talve-Goodman (Bellevue Literary Press, Jan 24 2023), which happens to be a Powell’s pick for January.
- Hippocampus Magazine…Juliet Patterson’s SINKHOLE: A Natural History of a Suicide (Milkweed, September 2022).
- Kathryn Gahl in conversation with me about her poetic memoir, THE YELLOW TOOTHBRUSH (Two Shrews Press, September 2022), about her incarcerated daughter, perinatal mood disorder, more in MER, November 28, 2022.
- Sarah Fawn Montgomery’s HALFWAY FROM HOME (Split/Lip Press, Nov 8) in Hippocampus Magazine, about her working-class unconventional childhood in California, moving across the country to pursue writing, home, displacement, and so much more November 13, 2022.
- Prose in SEPIA Journal Oct/Nov 2022 issue. Interiors is about an Appalachian family, black bottom pie, trains, and ear aches. It was inspired by my own family lore, and also: this journal is STUNNING!
- An essay about an experience at a workshop/retreat, featuring design/architecture, and how we are all works-in-progress, in The Smart Set.
- Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech, 2nd edition (Woodbine House, 2021) through some online retailers, your local library, used bookstores (it’s now officially out-of-print), and the audio edition is downloadable (with additional PDFs, resources) through Penguin Random House.
There’s more to this newsletter. Keep scrolling.
What’s Obsessing Me:
- Dollhouses. I recently discoverd this big, stand-up dollhouse and was swooning. I mean, what’s not to love? Miniature and houses.
- Speaking of houses and shelter…I recently read and loved Stephanie Thornton Plymale’s memoir, AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER (HarperOne, 2021) which delves into family trauma, abuse, secrets, mental illness, but also, interiors!
- Why hotels are so expensive. If anyone has an answer, I’d love to hear!
- Where to find a good margarita.
- Marketing and promotion materials. Do they work?
- All of the detritus of a teenager.
- Again, a good margarita.
You are reading Musings & Meanderings, a consistently inconsistent weekly newsletter about the literary life from Leslie Lindsay, and home of an archive of bestselling and debut author interviews. I’m also on twitter and instagram. I try to answer comments as best I can. Feel free to find my book suggestions on bookshop.org, and also check out the authors I’ve hosted in in-depth interviews HERE.
In the meantime, catch me on:
Reviewing books and talking about them with others on-line and in-person is one small way to engage with & support the literary community.
Thank you for letting me guide you on your bookish journey.
Let’s walk this bookish path together.
THANK YOU!!
Some of you have been reading my reviews, interviews, and meanderings for more than a decade now. That’s huge and I am so humbled. Thanks for being here.
More than 2,800 folks read Musings & Meanderings.
Created by Leslie Lindsay. I’m a proud book nerd. Connect with me on Instagram, and Twitter. See what I’m reading on Bookshop.org. Find my reviews on GoodReads. I’m also a Zibby Books Ambassador.
Learn more HERE.
Are you following us on Instagram?
That’s where you’ll catch bookreels, cover reveals, & bookmail : )
Sending you all happy summer vibes!
I support writing organizations, authors, publishers, and more. Occasionally, you’ll get a peak behind-the-scenes, too.
Get occasional bookish news delivered to your inbox.
One last thing: I love Between the Covers podcast with David Naimon. Not listening yet? If you’re a serious reader and writer, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
Leslie A. Lindsay 
Got something to say? Tell us!!