Howdy,
Despite a few unfortunate events since my last progress update, I feel confident I’ll meet the March 2022 date of having the manuscript ready for submission to my editor. I’m making excellent progress, and best of all, the story is improving in leaps and bounds as I cut the fat. Back in October, I had a bloated 107,000-word draft. That’s
been shaved down to a hair over 96,000 words. By the time I'm done, I think the manuscript will be hovering around 90,000 words, which is on par with Dragons Walk Among Us.
How did I accomplish this word reduction? First, I rewrote the first two or three chapters in their entirety. This actually increased my word count to close to 113,000 words––yikes! Then, I combined chapters, sometimes as many as four into one. I tend to write a lot more while drafting than I need. Personally, I think this is a better route than having too little. While combining chapters, I also cut any wordiness I find. This saves me time down the road.
Right now, I'm chopping my way through chapter 25, which puts me at about halfway through this exercise. After that, it will be time to trade the butcher knife for a scalpel.
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