I revise all afternoon, into the night, until I’m reading the final chapters out loud and running a spell check. I’ll reread the manuscript this week, but my anxiety at being behind in my revision deadline disappears. Sometimes you just need to get your butt in the cushions sink into your own words for a while.
(And now I need to step back and sleep on it and reread to see if those words make any sense, but this is progress).
I look back at my previous drafts to compare changes. 13,000 words longer than my first draft. 6,000 words longer than my second. Any future revisions will have to float around my current word count (87,000) or be trimmed, but I do think I needed the extra words and scenes to round out the story. Inevitably there will be more to do here but I’m anxious to get the manuscript back in the hands of beta readers and see if my changes this round worked.
I’m also thankful to know I have a little extra non-frantic revising time this week to do some end-of-the-year reflection and prepare for some big work things coming in the next week. Breathing room is much appreciated right now.
I need to shut my computer for the night though and reset tomorrow.
With Love,
Natalie