Editing Update

I finished my first read-through of Assignment Day last Friday. I have to say, it wasn’t in as bad of shape as I thought. Mind you, it’s not perfect and still needs a few changes to some of the struts supporting the frame, but overall better than I expected.

The reason I think it’s in decent shape is because of the ripping and replacing I did last year. I added some elements to make it more interesting and bring in more conflict. I made the stakes higher for the main character. And threw in some additional drama at the climax of the story to give it more resonance.

Is it publishable yet? No. This week I’ll go back to it and add in some paragraphs here and there that tie into the last third of the book. Those add-ins will give some depth to the time period and attitude of society. I’m also thinking about some additional conflict for the mom of the main character, providing another layer to the story.

That last one is the kind of thing I struggle with. Too often our entertainment portrays parents as stupid and selfish, or as bad people, and for the most part in this book I’m trying to frame a normal home life for the narrator. Nevertheless, I think some additional drama could be a good thing.

With a little more work this week it’ll be on the edge of publishable. That means two books ready to publish and one more to edit, which should be done by late this month or early next. It’s amazing to think I’ll have three books ready to go this year. I love it when a plan comes together.