Ready for the dreaded red pen

Well, it’s taken a little while longer than I thought it would but I’ve finally finished filling the holes and making the big changes to the manuscript and I’m now ready to read it through for the first time.

My manuscript!

That’s it, all 110,000 words and 493 pages. It seems a little strange to think that just six months ago I sat in front of a blank screen, wondering as to whether I would be capable of writing a page, and now I have a fully fleshed out second draft waiting to be hacked into (I’m not sure whether I am using the right terminology, but in my head, the first draft is the first write through from start to finish without stopping, the second contains the major corrections and changes that you knew needed to be made to ensure the story made sense – in my case writing out a character, adding in the causes of civil unrest that suddenly seemed a food idea two thirds of the way through – with the third draft being the first fully edited version for reader testing).

My trusty editing kit

Talking of hacking, it was my wedding anniversary today and as a gift, my wife bought me the editing kit above. Who said romance is dead. I am looking forward to putting them to good use over the coming weeks.

For those interested, I’ve been reading an excellent book on editing called Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. If you are looking for a clear and concise guide on how to edit your book, I would heartily recommend you get it.

So, it’s T- 4 days and counting before the first read through, with the aim to have a second draft ready for some selected reader testing by the end of April. Wish me luck everyone.