Inspiring Revisions

As you've probably noticed, I've been M.I.A. from the blog lately. Not that this surprises you, if you know me well. Between school and writing and keeping up with Write Chic, my personal blog tends to fall by the wayside. I'm going try to change this - after all, what's the point of having a blog, if I don't, well, blog? Though that may be slow going.

You see, I'm in the middle of revisions.

Which, if you're a writer, you know is another word for purgatory. Revising involves a lot of red pen, banging your head against your laptop, and - in my case - pie. It's not pretty and it's certainly no fun to blog about! Except for the pie. Yet there are only so many synonyms for delicious, you know? (Incidentally, Austinites, The Frisco on Burnet has the world's best chocolate pie - pictured at right. Try it, your taste buds will thank me, even if your waistline won't.)

These revisions, aside from being accompanied by massive amounts of pastry, have also taken longer than normal. I'm essentially chopping CAIRO to pieces - changing the background (and name) of her hero, adjusting their interactions, and clarifying the voice throughout. With every change I make, a dozen other things must change as well. This is all good, I know, but man does it take its toll! Over the weekend, I found myself in need of a creative recharge.

When I begin a book, I normally make a big, crazy digital collage a la Jenny Cruisie. CAIRO was different. It was one of those books that hit me upside the head with its concepts and characters. I needed to write and I needed to write it right then. So, I did. Which is lucky, since I knew exactly how to recharge myself on Sunday! I made a collage. I haunted image sites and added to the inspiration folder I already had for CAIRO, then put it all together in Photoshop. There's something about putting my book into images that gets me inspired all over again. I always end up making connections I didn't see before and coming away with characters that are deeper than they were before.


That's the finished product above (if you click on it, it goes to full size!) and I did a post at Write Chic a few months ago about how I make my collages. This one is currently the background on my computer and I smile (and get inspired!) every time my screen turns on.

Do you have any tricks that keep your creativity tank full? What do you do when you start getting burned out with your current manuscript?