Cutting is Beneficial
I finished my latest round of revisions for FALLING TO NORMAL just now.
One thing that strikes me as funny is that I did this while a family poker game is going on in the background. With my husband, father, aunt, and two uncles. One of the uncles is wearing a cheeseburger hat complete with wig. I don't know why, but he is. He and my father just went to the grocery store. My uncle is still wearing the hat. This is funny because my family unbeknownst to them have given me some of the best material for this book. I love how they are here for the latest revision.
Even if they are wearing cheeseburger hats.
I just went through my drafts to see what I've done since I've taken this up full time in 2004. Here's a brief snapshot.
First draft completed June 2006. It had 319 pages and 82,000 words. It also had a prologue and was missing a lot of important information. So I needed to go to my second draft.
The second draft was completed two years later, this past June. I took so long because of wedding planning and Oracle kicked my ass. I beefed it up to 441 pages and 109,780 words, which is way too long for a YA book. It also still had the dreaded prologue. All backstory which needed to go elsewhere. I had to go through it again.
The third draft is what I just finished. It sits at 357 words and 87,000 words and the prologue is gone. I'm so proud of myself with this latest revision. I took a couple of weeks and read through it a couple of times. I managed to cut 50 pages of scenes from the previous version to the latest.
I didn't think it was possible, but am glad that I could do it. That means I'm one step closer to where I need to be.
One thing that strikes me as funny is that I did this while a family poker game is going on in the background. With my husband, father, aunt, and two uncles. One of the uncles is wearing a cheeseburger hat complete with wig. I don't know why, but he is. He and my father just went to the grocery store. My uncle is still wearing the hat. This is funny because my family unbeknownst to them have given me some of the best material for this book. I love how they are here for the latest revision.
Even if they are wearing cheeseburger hats.
I just went through my drafts to see what I've done since I've taken this up full time in 2004. Here's a brief snapshot.
First draft completed June 2006. It had 319 pages and 82,000 words. It also had a prologue and was missing a lot of important information. So I needed to go to my second draft.
The second draft was completed two years later, this past June. I took so long because of wedding planning and Oracle kicked my ass. I beefed it up to 441 pages and 109,780 words, which is way too long for a YA book. It also still had the dreaded prologue. All backstory which needed to go elsewhere. I had to go through it again.
The third draft is what I just finished. It sits at 357 words and 87,000 words and the prologue is gone. I'm so proud of myself with this latest revision. I took a couple of weeks and read through it a couple of times. I managed to cut 50 pages of scenes from the previous version to the latest.
I didn't think it was possible, but am glad that I could do it. That means I'm one step closer to where I need to be.