Monday, June 06, 2005

Chapter 37.2: Another Finish Line

Ok, the implementation of my edits is complete, and I've trimmed back 12,000 words, which was 10 percent of the initial 120,000 version. I've gone from 390 pages down to 350. I still have problems to fix, which I'll handle in the coming weeks, but feel good about getting this step taken care of. It was three months, basically to the day, since I finished my first draft. Maureen is reading, and I had another friend read the first few chapters. Some of her comments coincided with Maureen's, some don't. One of the friend's comments was that I should have someone who isn't knowledgeable about Hoboken, NJ, where much of the novel takes place, read it also. It's a fair point: if I want to make sure I'm convincing someone about the locale, then I should see what someone who doesn't know it thinks about it. I have a person in mind who I'll add to the short list.

But while Maureen reads, I'm going to be researching agents. This is my new quest: Find a literary agent to work with by the end of 2005 and hopefully get the book sold while I embark on my second.

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