Catching up

So, yeah, it's been a while. Again.

So many things going on as the summer winds down around Aspiring Author's household. Unfortunately, most of these things are not typical summer activities. I still have the Feds showing up at work to check out the hospital every few weeks. Thankfully, they seemed to have accepted my plans of correction for all their niggling issues, so even though they may be back in other areas, the pharmacy should be just about clear. But it is still friggin exhausting.

On the writing front, I finished up the Before You Hit Send self-editing workshop this past week. It was phenomenal. I find myself with a much better eye for the fluff and garbage now, which is -- or will be -- invaluable come submission time.

As for the book itself, the editing process is going well, but has slowed down. The first nine chapters were flowing along nicely, but with the aid of the workshop, I could tell the next three to four chapters were a big black hole of unnecessary description. It wasn't hard to see this, especially since this is where the book originally bogged down when I first latched onto the idea. I struggled with these chapters for several months to almost a year before inspiration took hold and the rest of the book basically flowed from my fingers into the keyboard like a dam had broken.

Unfortunately, it was not as simple as slicing those chapters out. To get to the point where the story 'works' again, I would have had to rewrite before and after so much, that it made sense just to rework those pesky chapters. Thankfully, there was a glaring plot hole that needed to be filled and I am in the process of writing that section now. In the long run, I think it will turn out to be one to two longer chapters, but chapters that build a much cleaner foundation for the ending events in the book.

Alas, this also means that I have to hold off on editing down the line until I get these two other chapters written and, quite frankly, I have been completely exhausted in the evenings until the last day or two.

So, for those of you still reading the ramblings, thanks for your patience. It's still a little wierd not getting many comments back so I feel these words are being set free into cyberspace with very little support, but since the primary goal of this blog is to keep me writing, mission accomplished. At least for tonight.