It’s been a long time, so let’s get into it.
Drawing from the Well
Seventh Eighth
Chapter 66/83
107,928 Words (82.15% Complete)
Why are we back in this format? Because I’m most of the way through the massive Second Draft. I have a big fat editing checklist so let’s start by running that down:
Draft 0 Harvesting
First Read-Through
Developmental Edit
Character Edit
Fine Detail Edit
Line Edit
Edit Out Loud Read-Through
Proofreading and Spell Check
Final Read-Through
Yeah, it looks like a lot. If you saw what the ACTUAL checklist looked like with all the action items for each edit, it would look worse. As you can see, though, I’m already through the Gray, Brown, and Red Edits. So the percentage I showed above is for the Orange Edit. Now, I think this will be the most intensive, and thereby longest, round of all of them. It should get faster from here. After this, the structure should be set and I can get into the finer details (don’t jump to the Yellow Edit yet) and make this really good.
Basically, I’m working my way down in fineness of sandpaper. I’m down from the saw and am almost ready for coarse sandpaper. The Yellow Edit will be, well, fine sandpaper.
In short, it’s a lot of progress over the last five months. I’ll talk about other plans in the Well Chat below.
Filling the Well
Um, yeah. I’ve been chewing through audiobooks like they’re going out of style. So what have I read since my April 1st post?
20. The Case of the Somewhat Mythic Sword by Garth Nix
21. The Librarian by Christy Sloat
22. The Archivist by Christy Sloat
23. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
24. The Midnight Sea by Kat Ross
25. Blood of the Prophet by Kat Ross
26. Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer
27. Go Fish by Ian Rogers
28. Queen of Chaos by Kat Ross
29. The Fourth Element Trilogy by Kat Ross
30. An Explorer’s Cartography of Already Settled Lands by Fran Wilde
31. The Indie Author Mindset by Adam L Croft
32. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
33. Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
34. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire
35. In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire
36. Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
37. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell
38. Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
39. Patchwerk by David Tallerman
40. The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
41. The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
42. Inside a Silver Box by Walter Mosley
43. Ulysses by James Joyce (DNF)
44. A Demon Bound by Debra Dunbar
45. Satan’s Sword by Debra Dunbar
46. Elven Blood by Debra Dunbar
47. Devil’s Paw by Debra Dunbar
48. Imp Forsaken by Debra Dunbar
49. Angel of Chaos by Debra Dunbar
50. The Naughty List by Debra Dunbar
51. Kingdom of Lies by Debra Dunbar
52. Exodus by Debra Dunbar
53. A Thousand Years of War by David Brooks
54. Beyond the Dragon’s Gate Yoon Ha Lee
55. Queen of the Damned by Debra Dunbar
56. The Morning Star by Debra Dunbar
57. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
58. Etherwalker by Cameron Dayton
59. The Destroyer by Michael Scott Earle
60. The Near Witch by V.E. Schwab
61. The Ash Born Boy by V.E. Schwab
62. New Beginnings by V.E. Schwab
63. Second Chances by V.E. Schwab
64. Last Wishes by V.E. Schwab
65. Everyday Angel Collection by V.E. Schwab
66. Society of Wishes by Elise Kova & Lynn Larsh
67. Imager by L.E. Modesitt
Like I said, it’s a lot. I’ve read some good, some less good, some that was definitely not for me, and one straight-up Did Not Finish. It’s the first time I can remember not finishing a book since I started keeping track. Ulysses was not what I thought it would be and it was archaic enough that I couldn’t even follow what was going on. From what I could tell, it was just a day of non-events in the life of an Irish (I think) community. I couldn’t do it. Maybe that makes me not as smart or high-falutin’ but I don’t care. If I’m going to read, I want to enjoy it and I didn’t enjoy that.
For now, I’m reading Imager’s Challenge (Book 2 in the Imager Portfolio) by L.E. Modesitt, sequel to Imager, and Circle of Ashes (Book 2 in the Wish Quartet) by Elise Kova and Lynn Larsh, sequel to Society of Wishes. Both are intriguing in their own way. My interest is waning with Imager because it’s getting too deep into the politics. Modesitt definitely seems to have the Robert Jordan Syndrome of being too in love with his world. It’s not bad, it just loses focus. Circle of Ashes has started with a bang but I haven’t gotten much further than that.
Well Chat
So what else am I brewing on the back burner?
I’ve started the outline for Book 3 in the Tidestone Cycle. I started a thought experiment because where I leave things at the end of Book 2 raised a lot of questions for how the characters would get from there to where they would begin Book 4. I won’t go into details about why (read the book when it comes out!). So I started asking myself the question Why? and suddenly I started figuring out motivations and how that would drive different characters to different decisions. There’s still A LOT of work to do on that outline before I’m even close to drafting. That’s one of the pots on my cook stove right now.
Another is my path to publication. This blog post is part of that. So is a cover artist (shopping), my newsletter (preparing), and marketing (researching). The time is fast approaching when I am going to go into a whole new mode of operation and start hyping up my debut. It’s going to be great and I’m quite excited about it. There’ll even be a new website before too long.
At this time, though, I’m all about editing Book II. It’s coming together well and the pieces are in place. There are a few consistency issues that I’ll revisit after getting to The End for the Orange Edit but those shouldn’t be too hard to smooth out now that I know they’re there. Then it’s physical descriptions, voice, and speech to close out the Orange Edit and then I’ll go over tension, nuance, and setting in the Gold Edit. I think things are only going to accelerate from here until I can say “This is ready for a professional edit.”
In real life, COVID-19 is definitely still having an impact on us. No one is sick, thank God, but my wife’s business tanked hard. No social gatherings meant no business. Thankfully, things are starting to pick up again. My job is going strong and my team is making progress on all their goals. My kids have started back to school too. Both are freshmen this year, one in high school, one in college, both at home and learning virtually. It’s not bad but I feel bad that they’re missing out on the live experience.
Oh! And we moved! We sold our old house and bought a 100-year old craftsman style home one city over from our old house. It’s beautiful and charming and we just love it. I’m still trying to get my office settled but things are better today than they’ve been in weeks.
And my wife and I are on a weight loss journey and after 4 weeks, I’ve lost just over 10 pounds! I feel better and look better (which helps my mental health). It’s going well. Soon, we’ll go visit my dad up north for a few days. I can’t wait to see him; it’s been almost a year and we missed him when he was here in June. Plus, it’s going to be a welcome break from the insanity that has been 2020.
How are you holding up? Healthy? Strong? Reading? Writing? Let me know down below and I’ll be back soon with some deeper updates and plans on what’s coming next with my writing. Happy Sunday!
May the tide carry you to safer shores.
BSG