rewrite finished!

[minervaK]

Finished my second re-write today. It's a little shorter than I expected -- 72K words. I thought it would go to 80K.

I'll let it rest for a few days -- maybe even a week, if that feels right -- then read through it and start the polishing/editing. The story line is now completely nailed down, so I hope that the remaining work is just fleshing that out (notice how I say that as if there's nothing to it).

I was trying to remember how many times I've actually started this book, and I'm sure it's more than four, but this is the first time I've gone all the way through from beginning to end with no holes. The re-write I did previous to this one got it mostly all the way there, so I'm calling this one the second re-write, though in a way it's really the first full 'write.' So I feel like I've actually accomplished something!

Of course, when I pick it up again next week, I'm sure I'll be crying in my beer. Until then, my crime-writing compadres....

MK
www.minervakoenig.com

[I. J. Parker]

Those kinds of rewrites are educational but take an enormous amount of time. I did this sort of thing several years ago, changing from present tense to past. I learned from it, but the book did not improve. It may have become more accessible for lazy readers.