The third full edit of ES is officially done.  I was right.  The major hurdle of rewriting the beginning was done before I took the multi-month break, although my dumb ass broke in the middle of a chapter.  Fun times trying to get back into that one.  Of course, I make all edits by hand so now I have to actually type everything in to see where I stand with my word count.  I’m really hoping it’s not under 50,000.  I was able to whittle down the chapters from 26 to 23.  Not that that means anything for word count but I did a lot of consolidating and eliminating of unnecessary wordage.  The story as a whole is a little less snarky, serious when it needs to be serious.  The tone is definitely more natural.

I don’t know if this makes me weird but I love noticing my own comfort phrases.  I’m sure all writers have them.  I tend to use “out of the corner of his eye,” “looked up,” “choked on his heart” (or a variation of it) and a few others quite a bit.  Had to strike a lot of those.  I love noticing those because it means I’m not failing as a self-editor.  Noticing my own redundancies is a good thing, I think.

I started to lull around the late teens, having bouts of “OMG THIS SUX!!!” but once I got to the end, I realized how much I liked it.  I don’t know if that’s something I should be worried about or grateful for.  I should like my own book although right now I’m about 10 seconds from setting the thing on fire because I’ve edited it so much.  I can’t edit it anymore.  I think, as writers, we need to put our foot down on our own full edits.  If we don’t, it’ll get to a point where we’ve changed and mutilated so much of the original story that it’s not even the same beast anymore.  Plus, I don’t think any writer would stop editing one work.  They’d always find something wrong, something to change, so it gets to a point where we need to utilize our self-control and tell ourselves to stop.  This third run was it.  I’m not making any more major changes unless absolutely necessary (meaning like the story’s totally FUBAR if I don’t).  Small stuff, spelling, a few word choices, things like that.  The foot’s going down.

I’m not going to make the January 25th start date for Amazon’s contest.  But I am hoping to finish the manuscript up this week and I will make the final February 5th deadline.  Who needs sleep?  I just need to pray to the writing gods that they don’t hit their 5,000 manuscript maximum before I can get my entry in.  I’ll have no one to blame but my procrastinating self if I don’t get it in but I won’t be any less upset about it.  I really want to enter this contest and I really want to start querying.  The thought alone makes me want to throw up but it’s time.  My manuscripts about to graduate and I need to set it free in the real world.

*sigh*  They grow up so quickly.