Hey, when did the name change?

Let me preface this post with the following pronouncement.

It's awfully hard to type when a pug is licking one hand.

Moving on. When the heck did this blog change its name? Am I still part of the crew? Hmm. I feel like I am. And I do like the new name. It's entirely appropriate to what I'm about to write... which may be construed as either crap itself or something about the process of writing crap.

After a short hiatus spent revising something else and doing a lot of reading, I've kick started my new novel, a middle grade boy adventure (the pooch is still slobbering away, in case you were interested). I'd already written the first two chapters, but then experimented with the voice in an alternate beginning and have since rewritten the first two chapters. The first two chapters as originally set in black and white were some seriously tight prose, if I do say so myself. 

And then I rewrote them into some form of doo-doo. They're not awful, but I have a funny feeling they're not great. The issue is that I want to get to a specific point in the book, which starts in chapter three, but a bunch of stuff occurs in chapters one and two that I need to get written. These first two chapters are where things change for the protagonist, Jacob -- they're a tasty and necessary appetizer, but I'm impatient for the prime rib that's offered up in chapter three.

In the last scene in chapter two, I've written a complex scene in which Jacob rows out into the bay during an unnaturally fierce winter storm and nearly drowns. It's a sweet cliffhanger, by the way. But I rushed it because I'm in a hurry. As a result, I realize I may have written some crap. Frankie and others repeat this mantra that now shares this blog's name - "It's okay to write crap". And it is okay. There's a reason why, you see. 

Your very first round of revisions is all about.... (drum roll please and those of you who know the answer, ZIP IT!)

DECRAP-IFICATION

When you start writing a book and all that comes out of your mind is sludge, remember you'll wash up the goop later. When you find your evil inner editor slowing you down as you try to get those first precious words on paper, tell him or her to step off and mind the crap! You'll clean it up later.

Give yourself permission. Buy a pooper scooper at Target and set it aside until the first draft is done.