Words

A little over 4,600 of them, filling 22 double-spaced pages.

I finished the very first draft of the story a week ago, and if I may be allowed to gloat a bit, I'm proud of myself for following through so far. Many times, many New Year resolutions of deciding to submit something for publishing falling by the wayside, and this time, I've stuck with it.

My friend (and former blogger) Jef received a copy of the draft to read, review and pummel...er, give advice. I set it aside after finishing it, hoping to give myself a fresh set of eyes when I start the revising. But keeping the story from my mind hasn't been as easy as I thought. One minute I'd be playing Harry Potter on my Nintendo and then I'd look up, thinking Hey! I should move this event closer to the beginning because it would make what these characters do flow so much better. the same thing while eating dinner or QA testing at work.

And worse yet, tangential stories with some of the secondary characters run rampant through my head so I find myself not lacking anything else to write should this be accepted and more opportunities present themselves.

So tonight begins the official revising process. Now I wonder if I'll have a story ready to submit by October....