I have now reached Phase A2 of the editing of 'Jimmy Coates: Killer'. This is a great achievement.
Most of the evening as been spent devising a fantastic phase system, and drawing the necessary charts to document my progress through it. So having done no more work than a few hours ago, I now feel much happier with the way things are going. Now I know I've completed Phase A1.
I have also become obsessed with word count again. While I was writing the first draft - just over a year ago - I noted the number of words I'd written almost hourly. I still have the diary that I dedicated to word counting. I calculated averages, drew graphs, and set targets. It got the job done.
Now though I have started noting word count in the hope that I will have deleted more words than I did yesterday. Somehow I've reached the point where that is the only measure of my progress. I just have to trust that cutting the bits I have cut improves the quality of the book.
Current word count: 61,776.
Words cut this week: 5,111.
Bring it on.
1 comment:
I cut 724 words from my current project last week, and then sadly went up again by 480 words on Sunday. But it is my firm belief that shorter is always better. In fact, surely the perfect novel is really a haiku?
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