It's Been Two Years Since the Fire

 Animated by: Austin Saylor 

I wrote a piece while I was staying in Edinburgh, Scotland this past week. It was a free write, something I had not done in a while, and I was pretty proud of what I had written. 

As I open my laptop up today to read it over again, I find that I have lost the writing. 

It sucks. I’m bummed about it, and I’m honestly having a hard time continuing writing right now because I feel too pissed to write again when I just lost work. 

Funny enough, I opened up my laptop to begin writing a blog post about the two-year mark of mine and my husband’s home burning down. I find the irony in this because I’m almost too upset to write a blog post due to the loss of one document when this specific blog is all about losing everything, but not stalling forward motion because of that loss.

So, instead of lamenting the loss of a very small portion of my work, I will learn from it. I will double check that I’m saving work, and save my work in multiple places in the future. 

One large thing I have learned from losing my home is that the material things we have in our lives (including written work) should not own us or dictate our happiness. We are in control of our own happiness. It is a choice we have to make daily in the minute and grand happenings of our lives. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t experience emotions like sadness and anger, but we can choose to let it bring us down or we can use the heartache to our advantage, to propel us forward. 

My husband and I have been able to do this by being determined to come out better after narrowly escaping our burning home. After losing everything, our interest in collecting material things waned. If something got broken or lost in the past two years, we’d remind ourselves of the fire and it didn’t seem to affect us as much. “Oh well, it’s just stuff,” we’ve said on more than one occasion. 

Not only has it changed our mindset, but, this year, it has changed the way we are living life. We were able to pack everything we owned into our cars, leave the town I’ve called home for over seven years, and take off for London for three months. When we come back, we’ll be able to bounce around, visiting friends and family for a while. We then plan to slowly drive across the country, stay in Arizona for an undetermined amount of time with a friend before making our way up to Oregon. Not owning lots of things has given us immense flexibility and freedom that has been life changing. This wouldn’t have been as easy or possible without the fire and I am grateful for the opportunity that was created because of it. 

When life throws a curveball at you, you have a choice with how you react to it. It’s not easy to find the light in dark spots, nor is any one situation like the next, but I encourage you to find the positive in it and adjust your mindset. Some cool shit can grow from that, and it can rearrange your world so that you see all sorts of different colors and shapes. This act of going against what seems natural, giving into the pain and letting it swallow you up, can bring about a life you’ve never even dreamt of, and let me tell you, it is absolutely stunning and more fun than I can describe. 

I feel as if I am truly living life to the fullest and embracing all of the moments it has to offer. Cheers, fire. You’ve changed the way I see the world and my eyes are open wide. May I never forget the gift of freedom you have given me. 

Reviewing Your Editors Notes

Now that you've put yourself out there and asked for other's critical feedback, it's time to dive into those first edits you've received from your first editor. 

The first time round, making yourself vulnerable by letting another read and pick apart your work is going to hurt just a little bit. It will start to get easier each new time you do it...sort of. Maybe it's just that you get more used to it but think of it as getting tougher skin and as a process of getting stronger. It will make it more bearable. 

Give yourself a little pep talk before you open your editor's notes. Know that it is the act of your writing that you're even able to receive this critique in the first place and that in itself is a beautiful thing. Now, take a deep breath and open up that doc and get to reading. Let yourself take the time to read each note your editor has written, allowing each suggestion to sink in so your brain can begin to work out how to approach these pieces of feedback. 

After you have read through all of the notes and red marks, which may take you multiple days, take a step back and look at it as a whole. What are the biggest areas for change and sprucing? Maybe your editor is so kickass that they spelled this out for you. If not, find the biggest holes that need to be filled and let your mind begin to work out those problems. 

For me, one of my big pieces of work is the back stories of each character. I am taking the time to write out the stories of where these characters have come from and what has happened to them to put them into this story. None of this may actually even be put into my story, but it will make my character's motives more clear to me so that I can more properly express that throughout the story. This is my first broader change that needs to be made to my story, but I have a few other big ones I'll be tackling after that. 

This is a hard, painful process, but it is going to be worth it. If you let your story keep its holes with weak character motives, what would be the point? You're going to have to put just as much of you, if not more, into this editing process as you did actually writing it for it to turn into something beautiful. You can do this. 

Happy editing! 

Finding an editor

Finding someone who can critically read your work and give you valuable feedback is imperative. You're probably wondering, "How is it that I do that?" Maybe you don't have a readily available genius of an editor friend...that you know of at least. 

The person who is fit to read your work doesn't have to be a professional editor. What you should be looking for is someone who is a critical reader. What friends do you have that enjoy talking about books? When you talk about books with them, are they able to pull out themes and interpret the writer's words? This doesn't even have to be a good friend. It could be an acquaintance you met once. Maybe you've only had one or two conversations with them, but you found out they are a critical reader during one of those chats. Don't be afraid to reach out and ask if they'd be willing to read and give critical feedback on your work. The worst that could happen is they say no because they are too busy, but you've just flattered them by asking. They may be a good candidate to read your work at a later date. 

I have tested two ways of going about finding an editor. The first, I had a couple of people, who I did not know very well, read my work at the same time, with the same draft. I met with these two at the same time to hear their feedback. There were pros and cons to this approach. 

Pros were they brought different perspectives, which opened up more dialogue than if there was only one of them there. They fed off each other's energy and excitement to give their feedback, which made for a focused and high energy conversation. 

Although it was wonderful to have different perspectives, because they edited the same draft at the same time, they disagreed with each other on some major aspects, which weren't really resolved. It wasn't bad that they disagreed, but in the same meeting, it felt a bit overwhelming and more difficult to discover a solution or best fit because of their differing perspectives. 

I am currently taking the approach of having multiple editors, but they will be editing different drafts at different times. These editors I pulled from close friends and family. I have had my first critical reader read my novel and write up some kickass notes and suggestions for me. We met to discuss what he said in more detail. This gave me a good idea on where to start in my edits and go from there. I have my work cut out for me, that's for sure, but with his help, I have a direction. 

Once I finish those edits, I will be sending off the next draft to my next editor that I have set up. I will repeat this one more time, as I only have three editors set up at the moment. I will circle back around to my first editor and so on to get feedback on how I have changed things. The editing part is a beast, but knowing you have people who will help you out and give you those crucial critiques makes it so much easier. 

Don't forget to show your appreciation to your editors whether in the form of a thoughtful thank you note, money, a gift, taking them out one night etc. If you want them to edit your work again in the future, this will go a long way! 

Next week I'll be talking about the process of reviewing my first editor's notes.