Revision Time!

Hey! How are you today? I know I'm a little late, but welcome to August. Yay.

I have big plans for August. ☺️

As you already know (because I posted about it) I finished writing a novella during the first week of this month. Then, I took a week off to read and have a small mental break. But I got back into writing this week.

After spending about eighteen months revising a bunch of first drafts that I kept abandoning for years, I made a promise to myself. That I'll never put projects away for longer than three months. Depending on the length of the story, one or two months is enough distance between drafts. This is a good plan to have. Especially since I don't want to go through that again.

The hard work I put into revising those unfinished projects was time well spent. I don't regret it. I'm glad I put in the effort and came out with a bunch of completed novels and novellas, but it's not something I want to tackle again. It was a LOT of work and nearly broke my brain.

Actually, SUFFER THE DARKNESS was one of those abandoned stories, and look at where that little novella is now. It's my highest reviewed/rated published book!

Anyway, back to my current revision.

Do you remember that story I wrote in June? The idea that came out of nowhere and helped me process the sadness/grief I've been suffering over the loss of my beloved writing buddy. Loki was more than just a cat and he spent most of his sixteen years stuck to my side while I wrote the day away. Losing him hurt a lot. It still does. But this novella helped me process some of my feelings of loss, while giving me the chance to create characters facing a completely different set of problems.

It ended up being a story of self-discovery and acceptance. Of finally realising what's really important, while enjoying a few pleasures along the way. This tale became something very different to what I first envisioned, but I'm very happy with how it's shaping up.

Last night, I reached the end of the second draft. I cut some words, added even more, smoothed things out, made it bloodier, more violent, and changed one character's name twice. Think I might have a title too.

The new word count is: 46,622.

Now I'm putting it aside until Monday. When I'll get stuck into the third draft. This will be an even deeper revision to make sure the story doesn't have plot holes. I'll also figure out the chapter settings, which is something I really enjoy doing during the final round.

Well, that's it for now. Sorry this post veered off into several tangents, but it's all part of the same process for me. ☺️

Have a great day!!