First Revision Complete

Okay, I completed my first revision of the novel. The next step is to print a copy and make Lisa read it and give me feedback. Then I can do a final revision and begin submissions.

Revision details: 93,372 words, 374 pages.

Night Horse

Working on the novel late into the turgid hours of the rancid night. About 3/4 of the way through the initial rewrite. Bloatation has brought us to 92,022 words, also known as page 369.

Live the dream.

Bloat

Rewrite bloat brings us to 91,485 words, i.e. page 366.

The way I look at it, the children of the world will be getting more story for their peso.

Painting with All the Colors of the Wind

2/3 of the way through the initial rewrite of my novel about a mystical seahorse and his sensual journeys throughout time, and, yes, some things have had to change. Whole paragraphs have been scrapped and totally rewritten. Dialogue has been tweaked. Details have been added. Adverbs have been amputated.

Nevertheless, the bloating continues unabated. The book is now 91,059 words long. People, as you already realize, that makes our paperback 364 pages long. Can any human being read that many pages?

Swollen

The revision continues to swell the novel like a tick stuck to Dracula's gums. We're up to 90,466 words. As I read through, I find many things that need to be clarified, or details that need to be added in order to foreshadow or otherwise connect to future events in the book. It's a mystical process, people, don't try to understand it. Nobody understands it. I understand it least of all.

Anyway, the paperback book version of this novel is now 362 pages long.

Rewriting is the Trend of the Future

It has been interesting to read my own novel for the first time. As I was writing the first draft, I did not go back and read what I had written. I wanted it to be as fresh as possible for the rewrite. So far, it is not horrible. In fact, it might be kind of not all that bad and maybe even sort of good, but let's not fix on a set of adjectives until I've read the whole thing.

In the process of rewriting, I have had to add more scenes and lines of dialogue to fill in plot holes and flesh out characters. This has bumped up the word count to 89,600, aka 359 pages.

There you go. Plow on, American Mule. Plow on!

Novels Never End, They Just Run out of Paper.

So I am doing the initial rewrite of the manuscript. I have, of course, been paring down the prose, trying to remove unnecessary adverbs and such. However, I have also added a few scenes along the way. I am now on chapter six, and I have already bumped the word count up to 89,100 words (not counting the contact information and byline on the first page). That puts us at page 357 in our truck stop worthy paperback edition.

Done and Done. I mean Done.

I finished the first draft of my novel at 1:25am Central Standard Time. That is to say, just a couple of minutes ago. The first draft is 87,972 words long. In paperback form, it would be roughly 352 pages.

The time for revision is now upon us. Brace yourself, America.

Wind it Down, Unwindy

Well, we are past the climax and into the denouement. Just one chapter and an epilogue left. 84,170 words. Page 337. Purchase it soon at your local truck stop or Harp's.

What, No Pirates in This Book? Bah!

82,633 is the current word count. Page 331.

Nearing the End

Just a couple of chapters left, people, and the saga of Mindy Lightbearer will be complete. Well, the first draft will be complete, at least.

Anywho, we are 80,091 words and paperback page 321.

Delicious Fried Pies in Branson

78,855 words. That puts me on page 316, ladies and gents.

Reginald Approves of What I Have Done

76,602 words. That puts us on page 307 of our paperback novel, gents. Don't stop reading now. People are about to die, and you don't want to miss that.

I Post Too Much on this Blog that Nobody Reads

74,600 words. Page 299.

As of this Sacred Moment...

73,201 words, which is page 293.

So Fast, So Furious.

71,203 words. That is roughly page 285. If it gets any better, the moon will fall from the sky.

Don't Try to Put the Lid On It, Reggie!

69,503 words. That's page 279. Not counting the pretty illustrations of doorknobs exploding, that is.

Thither Go I.

67,586 words. That's page 271 of our continuing saga of blood and hatred (okay, not so much blood, but a mild amount of hatred).

Picking Up Speed. Faster than the Speed of Communism!

65,000 words, my people. That means I am on paperback page 260. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is not 260 pages of crap. If it is, we'll just have to get a nice painting for the cover of the book of unicorns devouring lightning bolts in a sea of acid-burned sea snakes.

Will It Truly Never End? Criminy Says, "No!"

62.5k words, persons. That means I am now on page 250 of the paperback.

For the Record...

In case 60,500 words means little to you, let me put it in perspective. The average paperback novel has 250 words per page, so in terms of my novel, if it were an average paperback, I would be on page 242.

Crizazy Bizazness

60.5k words, people.