Well, that’s that. I swept through the last words of the second draft of Hana Walker’s second mystery at 11:18pm Friday, October 6th. 70,100 words rewritten of 70,100 words. This draft is history.
First drafts are sprints to get what’s in your head out of it, but second drafts are retracing all your steps to make sure you (and the reader) don’t get hopelessly lost. And I did, but I’ve found a stronger story despite a few unexpected detours.
Third drafts are to pave over the pot holes that have cropped up along the journey.
And fourth drafts are to make sure you remembered to turn the traffic lights on.
Something like that.
I would be overjoyed at reaching this milestone, but my happiness is tempered by the death of a Twitter writing pal whose journey was cut way too short on Tuesday. Let’s remember the lost, and honour them by reaching our destinations.
Patrick Sherriff 