Episode #116: Where Do We Go From Here, Now That The Ink Is Dry

This was taken during my initial hike of the 2022 season. The weather was unusually warm for mid-March, and this pic is of the stream that starts way at the top from a pond and meanders a good two to three miles towards the center.

So the post title up above is the question to the answer of "I've finished the first draft of the novel. Now what?"

Note: what some people call their initial draft of their story, that is, the original version before doing rounds of editing. Personally, I call the draft after the initial round of edits my 1st draft. The original is my initial draft.

Anywho, I did my usual round of editing (tightening/expanding sentences/grammar, fixing typos, etc) and wound up excising a grand total of 71 words, making a brand new word count of 55,939, with the handwritten percentage still hanging at a robust 59.3%. None too shabby, in my opinion, but still, I thought it would be greater, north or south.

And thus, here I sit, pondering what to do next after putting away this particular manuscript for the next year or so. I should point out that the reason for that length of shelving time has to do with the promise I made to myself at the beginning of 2021, which is when my retirement truly kicked in, which was to have at least three stories in the on deck circle, all primed and ready to move on to the next level.

Story #1 is actually a rewrite of a previously published novella that may or may not still be showing on this blog's side & static page. I wasn't really happy with some aspects of the book, so last year it was number one on my list of things to fix (e.g. new cover, new title, new p.o.v.); Story #2 is another re-write that I had professionally edited about eight or nine years ago. Some of the comments she made were ignored but others were acted upon. Changes were made and I'm quite happy with the way it turned out (split up the chapters among other things); and finally, the aforementioned Average American Novel.

Now since the blog post title was part rhetorical and part real, this is what we've ultimately decided to do. I've pulled out story number one and stuck a sticky on it to remind me of what has to be done next, but that won't be acted on for a few months or so. I've also finally started reading a fantasy/supernatural/romance trilogy put out by Rebecca L. Frencl (I also follow her FB page) that I had purchased during the Christmas season (don't judge my reading speed), which I had told her the magical words, "you pick", which is an excellent way to expand your reading horizons.

While all these things are indeed on my to-do list, ultimately, my to-do list starts with my den and part of the basement, mine again. I finally got started on it late last week by moving my c.d. racks and my c.d.'s down to the basement and purchasing wooden crates for my 45's. I anticipate this complete move in/purging to last until May.

So while I may not be doing any writing of any kind beyond blogging, I will be keeping myself tortuously occupied with sorting and moving. And just to give you a basic idea on how many c.d.'s I have, they got packed away into 6 1/2 Banker Boxes, an empty 500 count #10 envelope box and a smallish Amazon shipping box. I've already sorted 1 1/2 boxes plus the other two boxes mentioned and halfway through box number 3. Total count as of this post is 260.

Yeah, I am so doomed.

But, I should note that this was my original plan back in the early summer of 2021, which was to organize and rearrange me den, because, you know, I am retired and I needed something to occupy my time.

I'm still doomed. 😎

{c} 2022 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved