A Shot for the Stars

The following story is true. Only the facts have been changed to protect the blog server.

The Butcher's Price has been sent off to an editor, and turned in simultaneously for a final. I've also sent off six queries, and already received two rejections.

What's more, my finals are over, and I'm gonna take some down time the next couple days. Yay! Then, I'll start on my next project.

The Butcher's Price: The Draft Strikes Back

I finished the second draft of Butcher's Price. It was fun, and a bunch of work. I probably spent 50 hours or more on it the last two weeks.

I've heard often that as you advance through your drafts, you end up cutting up to 30% of the book. From draft one to draft two, I actually added about 1000 words (there was a scene I forgot to write). I think the reason I didn't cut a lot was I flew through the first draft, so I didn't put much fluff in it.

My brain is fried. Over the last four months I've written about 90,000 words, and gone through an entire second draft. For the second draft I printed out the whole story (578 pages, double spaced, times new roman), my wife and I both went through it with a red pen, then I input all those changes into the computer--so in reality I've gone through it twice since finishing.

Finals start in five days. When those are finally (yuk yuk) finished I'll just be working part time for the summer, so I'll have time to work on my next book.