Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Word Count Irony

I'm in the first-edit phase of my WIP now. The break from it was nice and I read the whole thing through in about two evenings, made a punch list of items to address, and have been steadily working through it, in addition to doing little cleanups and tightening as I go.

Since I tend to write long, edits usually involve reducing word count, so I'm savoring the irony that while for months I got excited over my manuscript getting longer, now I'm excited to see it get shorter. I'm at about 99K now, down from 101K.

I'm toying with the idea of querying an e-publisher or two, although I think my purposes might be just as well served by posting as serial web fiction with a print version available via Lulu. I'd have to self-promote either way, and my way is faster and less pressure. I'm more interested in being read than being officially published at this juncture, and if I find my writing turning into another obligation on my To Do list, I'll just end up hating it.

In the meantime though, I'm working steadily at dropping my word count, whereas I used to celebrate increasing it. Life is kind of amusing that way.

4 comments:

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

Drop me a line once you're settled at work. I learned interesting new things while you've been galvanting.

Anonymous said...

Glad it's going well. I can't wait to read it after the tasters you gave on the blog.
Happy to help with promotion if you need any :)

Thomma Lyn said...

Ha! How well I relate. I'm still working on rough-drafting -- that is, upping my word count -- but before too long, I'll be in cut-and-slash mode. I think of it as having the clay all in a nice big glob before I start sculpting! :)

Anonymous said...

*whew*, I'm so glad I don't write novels! I listen to Mom mumble about needing more words, then I listen to her grumble about needing less words. Novelizing sounds very confusing! ;)

Purrs and snuggles from Marilyn.