Revision Update

Has it really been a month since I finished the first draft?

I’ve made good progress on my revisions, but not as much as I had hoped (the real story of my writing life, it seems.). I’ve imputed edits for eleven chapters and finished my complete rewrite of chapter one. The first two chapters got scrapped and redone from scratch with new scenes to better introduce the characters and plot. Chapter two is still coming along. It’s too much explanation of the plan right now. I need to add more conflict.

Though I’m pleased with my progress, I’m still shy of my word cut goal. My mark-ups for part two includes whole pages being dropped, so the percentages between finished chapters and words cut should even out soon.

Funny as it sounds, I’ve been working at three parts of the book at various times over the last month: rewriting first two chapters, marking up a hardcopy of the manuscript and then making the changes to the electronic files, and also polishing the Nashlin chapters to submit to my critique group. It’s both a challenge to hop around in the manuscript from beginning, middle, and end, and also a nice way to keep moving forward. When I got bogged down in chapter one, I’d jump to edits. When I needed a break from that, I opened a Nashlin chapter and continued polishing that.

Thanks to all for the congratulations on finishing and virtual support as I spit shine this puppy.

Beta readers: I’ll be emailing you guys soon.