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In Process, June 2010

Manners. First draft novel. 98% complete. A few days ago I wrote a list of the next five things that need to happen, and then I can end this wretched mess. I think it will be done and gone in July. Maybe even next week.

"TheBogWitch". I hadn't reallly finished the fourth draft (character/dialog) in May, so I finished that (4500 words). Then I let Ed read it and did the fifth draft (prose) which took me to 4080 words. By the time I put it on OWW for feedback, it was down to 3934 or thereabouts.

After reading the feedback I got, I think I may have cut too deeply. It has less than half the words it had before, having started around 8900. Atmosphere, setting, and characterization may have suffered. The only thing I really added was a different ending. This should be done-for-real by the end of July. That's a reasonable goal.

Karate Zombies. The boy became my third reader on this novel, and when he finished it, he asked me "What do you think was the climax?" I told him what I thought the climax was. He said "Don't you think it needs some tension, then?" Um, good point. I'm now collecting notes for how to punch up the crisis there. they have a massive logistics issue that I don't know how to solve, and a time issue. So the problem isn't that there's no tension, I can throw that in. I don't know how to solve the issues that I would raise. Maybe I'll have a useful dream, now that I'm thinking about it.

Then we went hiking in the forest, and Ed and the boy had a long, in-depth conversation about how patient zero would have become infected, so I guess I need to decide that, at least in my own mind, too. I should know, whether my narrator does or not.

"The Bezoar". I let Ed read this story, and he didn't hate it. And then I started reading it, and I had to apologize to him for making him read something that was so obviously not finished. I mean, I had sentences that went into a paranthetical clause and then just stopped. But he said no, it was charming.

Since I'd already been working on this one before the new editing system came into place, I started with prose (I was in prose mode anyway, and I'd spent a lot of time before) and now I need to put it on OWW. I came across a note I'd written when I started the first draft, back in August of 2009. I don't think I hit the theme very well, but maybe it works as a story anyway.

"Rabbit". A couple of hundred words of notes on a short story.

Knit...
Morrigan.
I have about nine inches of the body.
Noro Henley. Back complete in May; front, neck, and both sleeves in June. Now there's just the collar, buttons (to be purchased), and five seams to go. Should be done by Sunday.

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