Chop Chop Chop.

Why is it I always have an epiphany about my writing in the shower? Well, had one yesterday, and it was a doozy. Rotten timing, since I have the story out for critique, but I had to run with it. So, last night, I sat down, and took a machete to the story. Usually, I'm in favor of tweezers, and occasionally, pliers, but last night, the machete was resurrected, and I CHOPPED.

Gone is the boring, non-compelling beginning. I get right to the meat of the story, and got rid of the interaction between the "Nana and her grandson" which frankly, was jarring every time they interrupted the action. It chopped the manuscript from 67K to 63K, which is more around where I want it to be, in terms of length.

I think it flows better, and the storyline is cohesive. GO ME. I'm sure my critique readers will hate me, though, since they have the older, sluggish draft.

I've been reading up on the agent's submission policies, and the majority of them want only a query and the first ten pages. And I felt the first ten pages were BORING. Not to mention in them I commit the most egregious of writer sins: a big ol' info dump.

That's all gone now. The info dump has been dispersed throughout the story, and I stayed up until 1am fixing it. Now I'm tired. Dang it.

It's Thursday! Basketball game, and I will have to drop Thing One off again and miss it. The baby is still not 100%, and now Thing Three (my eight year old) is home with a fever. At least we're all getting it at once--it's not dragging out over several weeks, like it usually does. :-) That's something to be happy about.

I've put the machete away for now. It actually felt liberating to lighten up the story, and from now on...I'll only be using tweezers.

I hope...