Yesterday I finished the second draft of the WIP and discovered that the plot skeleton had a missing bone or two. So I literally drew out another one (and if you've taken any of my classes, you know exactly what I did), and ta da! Saw the problem and the answer in a flash. So I went back to my Excel chart with my scenes/timeline, put in the missing scenes, and printed the manuscript out: after putting all my "weasel words" in all caps, of course. (What are those? Words like WAS, WERE, THAT, FOR A MOMENT, LOOKED AT, etc. Anything that's passive or used too often.)
So--today begins the third draft, and I'm moving through it slowly at a 20 page-per-day pace because this puppy is due at the end of the month. This is the draft where I add the "mood music," make sure there's tension in every scene, fill in the gaps, and LISTEN to the computer read the ms. to me. I also discovered that I need to add a character for the simple purpose of killing her off later. Seems a shame, doesn't it? But this character is desperately needed, so in she goes.
The almost-final go through. Lord willing and my schedule permits, there will be one more quick pass after this one, then it goes in to my editor . . . and then it comes back again, after an expert pair of eyes has looked at it. I'll be ready for that stage.
Onward! BTW, if you haven't been checking out Charis Connection, you're missing a treat! The link is http://charisconnection.blogspot.com.
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