Revision

Today was six hours of revision. Minus a quick lunch break, plus a quick trip out into the rain to try to find a window (have to replace the whole window, and of course it's an odd size). I keep telling myself, don't complain about the rain, because our water storages for Melbourne have only just passed 33%. But when you want to get out and do stuff, the rain is a pain (on the plain).
I've recently discovered the blog of Paperback Writer, who puts up a lot of stuff about writing, plotting and revision. She has also put up some interesting links for a heap of other stuff, including using Wikis for plotting, and a site where you can get copyright free photos and images.
I'm feeling pleased, not just because I've put in quite a few hours, but because a new series idea looks like something I'm definitely going to develop (research required, but that's OK). It's true - the more you write, the more ideas you have and the more things become possible.
I'm still reading the new Michael Connelly. And have noticed that hardly any of his sentences have commas in them. Many of them are short, that's true, but even longer ones don't. It doesn't affect clarity. It adds to it. What it does affect is a sense of flow somehow. It also feels a little like I'm reading at a sixth grade level.
What really bothers me is that instead of being engrossed in the characters and story, which I expected, I'm picking on sentence punctuation. Either revision is making me overly anal, or this book is not up to Connelly's usual standard. I am totally resisting doing a sentence comparison with Echo Park, his last book. Until I've finished reading.