One More Hurdle Behind Me

A few months back, I finished the first draft of my current work-in-progress manuscript. For the past three months, I’ve had my head down, working eight hours a day, every day, on editing that manuscript.

Generally speaking, my first round edits focuses on cutting—scenes, boring description, unneeded words—and this edit was no exception. I cut 50 pages from a 550 page manuscript, so about 10%, which is a bit low for me. I usually cut up to 20% on the first go-around.

I’ll make more edit passes, one later this year and one early next year, but I won’t start the next one until I hear back from my three beta readers. I sent out the manuscript to my betas this morning, hoping I will hear back from them before October.

So now I have a break from writing for the next month or so. And for the first time in many years, I plan to do no other writing projects. It is time for me to rejuvenate, and that means spending time outdoors rather than in my office.

So for the next thirty days, it’s tennis, hiking, swimming, and visiting friends. I am so looking forward to time away from my computer.