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    As I’ve written before, if you’re wondering what bipolar disorder is like, try writing. To be more precise, edit what you’ve written. A series of ups and downs. Comedy. Tragedy. Repeat.

    Revising the courtroom scene of my novel made me feel wary of what’s coming next. If you look back at last week’s entry, you’ll see I was dizzily euphoric after finishing that 13-page scene. I didn’t however write about the caution I was also feeling. Having finished the courtroom scene, I certainly wasn’t looking forward to any more massive rewriting. I counted how many scenes remained until I would complete Act 2. Ten. Ten scenes that needed light touching up? Or, lots of editing with a fair amount of cutting? The latter: humbling, but easily done. The former would be a relief. I really hoped it wasn’t going to be another mess.

    I am easily distracted. This affliction has mostly downsides, but it’s not always problematic. When I began reading the next scene to determine how much work it would need, I was sucked in. No time to worry about how difficult editing would be, or about whether I was entering a morass of prose needing not shaping , but shipping out.

    This scene was all text messages. All the text message scenes in the novel read fast, swell with nuance and subtlety, and by definition feel immediate and intimate. Hopefully the whole novel is fun to read, but if the novel is a roller coaster, the text message scenes are the loop de loops. So I find them, anyway. From the writing angle, there’s not a lot to revise in text messages. Either the line works, or it’s to be deleted.

    The next thing I knew, I was shaping up the scene. Then, another few moments, and I was done. The scene worked, and fit where it was.

I moved to the next scene. Not a text message scene, but a typical scene that was in fair shape. Easy peasy! I did have to reorder the placement of this scene, and the next three, making sure that the chapter would end on a dramatic event. The reordering worked, and all four scenes were easily revised.

    I was on a roll.

    Then I came to a scene that said almost nothing. Its only purpose was to point out to the reader that Lucy, the owner of Lucy’s Bargain Bizarre, had misspelled “bazaar” on the sign above her store. Again, easily dealt with. Highlight and hit delete. Entire scene, gone.

But, I started playing with this meager scene, and ended up gutting almost all of it. I took out the anecdote about the store being called the “Bargain Bizarre.” At some point, Lucy, now named Izzie (named with the author Isabelle Allende in mind) needs to confirm to Kelsey that she knows “bazaar” isn’t spelled that way, but she’s kind of artsy and likes how “bizarre” looks better. Maybe Izzy will do this later in the novel, when Kelsey meets her. Anyway, the almost complete rewrite of this scene was like cutting through butter. I was having fun!

    When I finished that scene, I looked at my chapter/scene outline. Down to three scenes left! I couldn’t believe it! None of what I’d written over the past three days had been arduous or annoying. I don’t recall questioning myself a single time! Three more scenes! I decided to combine 5 scenes together in one chapter, the three that were left plus two I had already edited. And, just like that, I was on the last chapter of Act 2!

    Now it is true that, when I get back to revising the novel on Saturday, the first scene has a 3-page action scene that must be truncated into a phone call. That’s going to take some thinking and careful writing. The scene: Kelsey’s mom calls Kelsey. Her and Dad are in jail. Kelsey’s father had a disagreement with the superintendent, Dr. Rivers, and Dad punched Rivers in the mouth. Mom and Dad end up in a jail named SCI Waymart. Kelsey at first thinks Mom said “Walmart.”

I expect I’ll have Act 2 fully rewritten by Monday or Tuesday. Check my website on Tuesday evening. I’ll make sure to update you on my progress!  Diaryofanoptimisticwriter.org .