I know I'm a day late in checking in and I missed two check ins this last week. I had dental work go awry (way too much pain) and traveled to Virginia Beach to visit family. I'm still in Virginia until next Sunday.
In my race to publish by September 22, I was late out of the starting block. My manuscript was 9 days late. It was a relief to finish that first draft, but it was a little demoralizing to begin off pace. Now, that said, the race is just a metaphor. If CANCELLED is not the absolute best book I can put out at this moment in time and 9/22 rolls around, I will delay the release. Period. I will not publish a book I think is below my standards just to make an arbitrary publishing date. That said, it won't be good to miss that deadline as I will have various marketing plans in place around that date.
Today, I checked my progress against where I had hoped to be. I set aside roughly 1 day per chapter for first round edits. The overhaul. And believe me, it has been an overhaul. I've cut entire chapters, killed anything extra that isn't necessary, and struck anywhere I jumped into another character's head who isn't the POV character for the chapter. I can edit 2-3 chapters per day, I've learned. After that, I notice I"m not making as many red markings. Not because the mistake aren't there, but because I'm not seeing them. I should be on chapter 14 by today, and I'm on chapter 8. NOT terrible.
I've narrowed a 9 day lag behind the schedule to a 4-5 day lag!!!!!
I am also working on an awesome marketing avenue for indie authors, but I can't say anything more right now until I get a little more clarification.
Check out some of my fellow A Round of Words in 80 Days participants and their awesome blogs!
I'm impressed. Making up time is difficult, and you've cut off half your initial delay. Although I enjoy editing, overhauling is much harder than the initial writing. Stay strong!
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed, too. Getting the draft finished is such an accomplishment, even a few days behind schedule. Congratulations on that, and on your vigorous revision.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: My mom watched my daughter for me for 2.5 hours today, I parked my butt at a Barnes and Noble and jammed through 8 chapters! I'm now AHEAD of schedule (pen editing, still have to make updates in the computer). So jazzed.
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