I emailed Deb, she'd be happy to contribute.

I got through Edmund extracting in 7 and 8. I thought 8 would be the tough chapter for doing that, but NSM. Now I realize that 9 is the more complicated one because the character that fills Edmund's role in 8 makes a decision in 9 that will have an impact on his relationship with the main character. When it was Edmund making the decision, it didn't really matter, but now it does and I have do decide what to do with it. So more thinking and work, but I feel like it's confirmation that taking out Edmund is the right thing to do.

I finally heard from beta exchange person 1. She said she liked chapter 3. Of course I've changed the chapter a lot since I mailed it to her, but it's still nice to hear. I think a couple of comments are still applicable. Beta exchange person 2 did not like chapter 3 very much (nice to hear too, just in a different way), it's interesting to hear contrasting opinions. That reminds me that I have a 4,500 word chapter to critique by the end of the weekend.

No actual progress last night, but I did knock out my critique. I did some thinking though, I think I have a handle how things will work with the relationship complication caused by taking Edmund out.

I'm having trouble figuring out the end of Rainier's arc though. Tragic ending A, tragic ending B, or sad ending C.

I admire you so much for forging ahead like this. I can't wait to read the new version with the demosed Edmund.

Thanks. I'm getting to Edmund-less chapter 12. Heck, he isn't even in chapter 11.

When I finally get you 12 I'll have to send a couple of small notes of important changes that came along with the Edmund removing. Not very much to note, there's a snippet of offhand dialogue I added in 4 that's important later on and with Martin taking Edmund's place in 8 and the beginning of 9, then it's Martin, not Edmund, who decides to capture the thief rather than immediately help Aimee.

I've been thinking of it as the deEdmundization of Gud's ms.

I removed Edmund from 12 and 13 now. Two more chapters and I'll be caught up to the place where I left off to take care of the Edmund issue. The chapters won't require a lot of work to remove Edmund, but I always end up tweaking things a bit too.