Yay, Burrell!

And go you, Gud!

Yay, Burrell and woo hoooooo Gud!

I'm still all preeny-like over the great email from Agent of Awesomeness.

Go Burrell!

That sounds good Barb preen away!

I'm in revised chapter 9 and it is proving tough. I know I need to do some cutting, but cutting out the stuff I can lose and stitching together the stuff that's important is turning out to not be easy. Chapter 8 was so much easier by comparison.

I'm entering a tough part of the draft in general. I knew there needs to be a lot of cutting in the next 3-4 chapters of the rough draft. Once I get to the middle of the draft, it should get easier since a LOT happens in the middle. The middle is my favorite part of the draft.

Gud, what helped me was to make a timeline of events that had to happen, in the order which they had to happen. From there I added things in, sort of a layer at a time. It helped me to see what moved the story forward and what was scenery, so even though some of it was nifty, it was easy to see it could go and not slow down the narrative.

I used that trick more than once for tough decision-making.

Thanks for the support. I wish I had time to write today. Instead all my writing energy is going towards rec letters, course syllabi, assignment sheets, and the like. BO.RING.

I used that trick more than once for tough decision-making.

I may have to get more organized like that if it gets any trickier. I think chapter 9 will manage to work, I guess you'll see if it will or not, but 10 might be even trickier unless I can throw out enough to hit the next major event quickly without much stitching. Chapter 9 is very much a getting from point A to B chapter that has to resolve the end of 8 and convey some information. I think I can get away with it since Chapter 8 is pretty high octane and Chapter 10 starts out with major character conflict.

I got this as a comment on my blog. As a policy I don't think I'll approve it since the e-mail given is fakeEmail@hotmail.com though it is obviously not spam so I'm not entirely sure.

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(I am a super professional author of great renown. I have decided to edit the first few paragraphs of your first chapter, free of charge. This is a great honor I am bestowing upon you, and the only suitable response from your end is to make the necessary changes immediately. There is no need to thank me.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the other side of the wall, she could hear the ponderous footsteps of the creature's which had torn-apart at least a half-dozen capable soldiers: demons.

Aimee wasn't trained to fight demons. For that matter, she didn’t ever fight anything. She usually spent her days sitting at a workbench, painstakingly constructing the next device assigned to her. Yet she now found herself held still and silent in tense anticipation, heart thudding and sweat starting to drip off the tip of her nose as she watched the doorway ten feet ahead. The grisly remains of an Imperial Guardsmen lay just outside it, chest slashed open on the left side. A guilt tinged sense of relief washed through her when she realized the man was not her friend Curtis.

A hungry snuffling sounded from the next room, and Aimee crept toward the doorway. A heavy footstep sounded as the demon moved closer. In anxious response, she gripped the wooden handle of the device in her hand tight: a rune covered copper tube which represented five years of work for her. It was the most powerful magical artifact Aimee had ever Crafted. Of course, it had never been tested in the field. Until now.

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The hell?

I disagree with most of his changes, but a couple of his changes actually aren't all that bad.

::snort::

If he was so super professional, he'd actually just graciously comment, not edit.

I'm so happy I don't draw the whackjobs to my blog.

I love the idea of a professional referring to himself as a "super professional". I went ahead and approved the comment, it isn't spam and maybe I'll get some snarky comments because it it.

Heh. I might go and be snarky. That's something I'm "super professional" at.