Plot running astray?

The second draft of my novel has gone in so many unexpected directions, it feels more like a first draft, and I wish I could do NaNo WriMo with the rest of you wonderful people.

In my revisions, I built an ever-increasing word count that bordered on gluttonous, and it eventually ran my story into the ground. Kind of like this:

For days, I hemmed over how to jump start everything into gear. The answer came when I helped a student hone in on her research paper thesis. I told her a mantra from my own papers: "Stick to your thesis like glue."

I realized my novel's thesis was my synopsis and query, and I hadn't stuck to them at all. Notes and changes were spread across multiple documents, and there was a story thread that didn't need to be there. That's what was blocking my path.

Here's how I got myself untangled:

Step 1: Revised query and synopsis to reflect new story directions, and stuck to it like glue

Step 2: Condensed proposed story changes into a manageable to-do list

Step 3: Sliced out extra story threads that didn't belong

So far, I've been able to subtract 4,000 words, and I now have a clear path to the end:

I hope, whether you're doing NaNo WriMo, or if you're buried in revisions like I am, that you can stick to your query and synopsis (or outline, if that's your preference). Especially if you find your plot tangled or your story stalled. Letting go of what you don't need makes everything a ton easier.

Your turn: What are some ways you've tamed your unruly plots?

Reading Versus Writing

The other day I was discussing some fantasy trilogies I recently read (Lynn Flewelling's Tamir Triad, starting with The Bone Doll's Twin and Juliet Marillier's original Sevenwaters trilogy), and my friend asked me where I found time to read so much. I told her I've been outlining a fantasy, and before I write, I feel as if I need to read everything important in the genre first. And that's impossible, so then I never actually have to write!

The twist is that my friend is currently weighing agent offers for HER fantasy, which she wrote while I was reading all those other books. I think she spent her time more productively -- especially since now I get to read the product. Instead I use reading and research as a clever procrastination method so I feel like I'm accomplishing something even when I'm not (but it sure it fun).

This reminded me of a few recent discussion among English teachers who believe that the best way to teach is output instead of input -- writing instead of reading. And then I recalled a casual survey among writers about which they could more readily give up, writing or reading.

I was surprised that many answered reading -- something I could never relinquish willingly, although I have stopped writing for periods of months and years. But reading is my PASSION -- it's how I learn, soothe myself, escape troubles, and entertain my mind. It's my oldest and most dependable friend, and a life without books would seem bleak indeed.

Still, I currently have three or four partly researched, partly outlined novels that I never feel up to writing, but sometimes you must just WRITE.

Which would you give up if you HAD to choose -- reading or writing?