Apologies for not posting any entries, but I was enjoying sunny and mosquito-free Vancouver. When I came back last week, I launched myself into what was essentially a page-one rewrite of Bad Hair Day (the third book in the Barnabas Bigfoot series). I had originally thought I was just going to clean up the draft for the editor, but when I looked over the manuscript, I hated it. There were too many unanswered questions and flat plot threads. Rather than try to string together bits that fundamentally weren't working, I opted to start over. Thank goodness I did. The resulting revision is much clearer and has a definite and logical progression. The characters show different sides to themselves and I actually felt like the climax had me on the edge of my seat. I showed my wife the draft and she said it was easily the best of the three books.
The process wasn't easy. I forced myself to write a minimum of 5,000 words per day, starting on Monday. By Saturday afternoon, I limped to the end. To be honest, I think the draft is in pretty good shape as story goes. Now I have to do some polishing. I know, I know. I'll have to do more to it once the editor gets a hold of it, but I'd rather hand in what I believe is my best work and improve on that rather than hand in something shoddy and have to waste the editor's time doing something I should have already known to do.
Tomorrow, I'm cycling through the draft. I should also remember to jot notes for the fourth book in the series before I lose momentum.
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