Drafty

Very pleased with progress in the garden this morning, but three hours was enough for both of us, so I retired to the study to continue with the first rewrite of my novel, and I'm very pleased to announce that I completed it!

From first to second draft in a little over six months. Although the intention was to tighten up the writing, and I did pare out a lot of superfluous stuff, as it turned out the word count has increased because I revisited some sections quite drastically and also wrote up those parts that needed additional research. What was the name of the main highway between Toronto and Boston (I-90)? The name of a Boston suburb where the refugees were headed? The particular science department at MIT that had the equipment the heroes needed? And so on. All those things are now bottomed and I'm even closer to my target of 100,000 words.

What I found even more surprising: since I wrote the last 4-5 chapters last August I haven't looked at them at all. Coming back to them yesterday, I found them profoundly moving and exciting. Sorry if that sounds pompous, but once again I had that feeling: "Did I write this?" The first few chapters still need work, but most of the final third of the novel where the action really hots up? Well I'm more-or-less happy with it bar a bit of a polish.

This has made me determined that the next rewrite will be the last before I approach a publisher. I guess there will most likely be changes requested during that process (assuming I can find anyone interested!) and I can't predict what they will be, so rather than spend time on further polishing of something that, by the time the third draft is complete will look exactly how *I* want it to look, I'd rather solicit some external feedback on it.