My First Draft Revisions Are Not A Bad Thing

After a side trip to assess possible Golden Heart entries, I am back to work on revisions for my Georgian historical romance.  I told you last week my hero and heroine meet later than they should in the first draft.  Hopefully, I have fixed that now – at least on my paper copy.  Once I move some scenes around, delete a few others, and add the key scene where they meet (I’m not telling you how!) then I will do another read through and see how it flows.
 
A few weeks ago, I blogged about how writing a story is like building a house.  If I continue with that analogy, I poured the foundation and put up the framing for the walls when I completed the first draft.  Now, after identifying some scenes to add/move/delete, I guess you could say I am moving some of the walls.  (But at least I didn’t already do the wiring or put up the drywall.)
 
I am getting excited again about working on this story, after being away from it.  This is when being a writer can be a lot of fun.  I am eager to complete the scene changes and see the results.  Hopefully, this will be the end of any major redesigns, and I can get back to the next round of revisions.  Some of the scenes need better opening lines.  And I have discovered I tend to rush through the last quarter of the book – I suppose because I can’t wait to get to the ending.  In other words, my house still needs the plumbing and electrical installed.
 
While you might think I am discouraged by this list of fixes, I am oddly encouraged by it.  The simple fact I have recognized these items is proof to me how I have grown and matured as a writer.  I know I made all of these and more mistakes in my first story, but it took a long time and many revisions to realize it.  Now that I know the mistakes I made in my current WIP, I can fix them right away.  And hopefully, avoid making them in future stories.  Measure twice, cut once.