Knocking Out Round 1

Supposedly, Ernest Hemingway once said that “The first draft of anything is shit.” That may be an overstatement, but writing the first draft of a new novel is hard work and a mental battle from beginning to end. My mind is racing with ideas about creating plot points, character arcs, scenes, humorous bits, set ups and pay offs, and a zillion other things. When writing my first novel, Deadly Sacrifices, I spent a lot of time polishing and overediting my first draft. Now that I’m on my fourth novel, I’m focusing more on getting it down on the page without too much deep editing. I know it’s only the first round in a long process.

MY KEYBOARD COLLAPSE!!

On Saturday, I felt really happy (and tired) that I completed a first draft of my current project, The Remade Bridesmaid. It’s a women’s fiction dramedy about a young twenty-something woman who, failing in her big Broadway dreams, must find a new path forward in her Key West hometown. It’s a beast at about 132K words, so I’ve literally got my work cut out for me—cutting out about 20-30K words. As they say in writing, I’ll have to kill a lot of my little darlings, but that’s the way it goes. Writing followed by editing, editing, editing, editing……

I’m fortunate that I have critique partners who are reviewing it as I write it. I’ll use their critiques to further inform my editing process. Then I’ll send that draft out to beta readers who will give me further feedback and then more editing before sending it out for review. I’m hoping to be done with the editing process by September of this year—if all goes to plan!

I’m thrilled that Round 1 in this boxing match is done…now only about twelve more rounds or so to go!