Doin' a Little Funky Dance . . .

Or I would be if you could see me. Today at about six p.m. I finished the third draft--which was really the fourth draft--of MAGDALENE. And it is finally beginning to feel "together," if you know what I mean. In fact--and I say this with great trepidation--I think some of it might actually be good.

Tomorrow I'm going to print it out. I'm traveling all next week, so I'll take the manuscript with me and pull out random pages to check for repetitions, senses in scenes, tension, etc. Looking at it by random pages insures that you don't get so caught up in the story line that you gloss over random errors. Or weaknesses.

In any case, I have been working ten-hour-days for what feels like a very long time, so it feels great to take a little break. Ah . . . .

By Monday I'll probably be thinking that the book is the worst thing I've ever written, but that's par for the course. And when I get my editor's letter, I may be suicidal, but that's normal, too. The lovely thing about a manuscript is that it can be fixed. Errors can be corrected, weaknesses can be strengthened, themes can be enforced, and extraneous stuff can be cut.

Onward!

Angie