In a flurry of activity, the second draft began: powering through thepages; words culled left, right and centre; word count dropping fast.
Or not.
Since I completed the first draft to my novel, not a lot has happened. I managed to detail all my chapters on index cards, allowing me to see the whole picture and easily make changes here and there. I'm finding it very useful, but unfortunately, it's not a lot to show for almost a month's work.
Why the slow down in productivity, especially with late July fast approaching? Work. The full time paid variety. Yes, that old chestnut. Yesterday was the first day in a fortnight I've actually sat down at my computer. My day job has become my night job as well. Not ideal, but not the end of the world either. Things have quietened down now, so I will be taking a week off in mid-May to play catch up - a game I've mastered over the years.
The first task for Draft Numero Deux is to reduce that big steaming pile of words you see there on your right under "Noise Reduction." Two hundred and seventy words is just too much (you think?!). So a culling we shall go. Watch with intense concentration and wild glee as that figure reduces over the next month - bottoming out, hopefully, at 160,000 words.
If I can't get the word count down, I will instead release two books - Steaming Pile of Words - Part One and Steaming Pile of Words - Part Two. If it worked for Steven Soderbergh, it can work for . . . oh wait.
2 comments:
Lashings of good luck to you, sir. I 'only' have 148k to sort out, so my thoughts are with you as you tackle this most onerous of tasks.
In short, have a beer before you dig in. This is gonna hurt!
Thanks Scarlett. I'm thinking about getting the machete out and start slashing blindly.
It's going to hurt but that's where masochism comes in handy.
Good luck with yours!
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