I finally bit the bullet a few weeks ago (late April) and purchased a couple of shepherds hooks and planted them in the side yard where squirrels cannot reasonably jump to and on. Oddly enough, I seem to be getting a different variety of birds with the bird feeders being so close to the mountain.
By the time you're reading this post, I am now working on book #4 of the "Sister vs Sister" fantasy series. I recently completed the first round of editing book #3, and I decided to celebrate my singular achievement by providing the odd statistical* writing update.
*I've always had a thing about finding oddball stats on whatever project that I happen to be performing at the time when the bug bites. And no, this is not a recent phenomenon, as I've been doing it all of my life.
I really do enjoy coming up with oddball stats for my projects and unlike the last one I had done a few years ago that had an emphasis on the actually for this series, this one will not be as labor intensive.
Starting with book #1: the actual editing time frame was January 13th through February 4, 2026, a span of about three and a half weeks. Now there were quite a few things that I did prior to that original start date that would allow me to utilize a new game plan that I had decided on way back in 2022.
Like supplies. Because I wanted to do the entire process correctly, I had purchased 5 1 1/2" D-style three ring binders (with a 375 page capacity based on the same science that says you can get 115 loads of laundry out of 1.17 gallon jug of liquid detergent), and a brand new storage container to hold the original 1st draft, warts and all; I created nearly 1 1/2 dozen initial posts for my FB author's page, as I wanted to turn it into a mini blog by chronicling this journey; and most importantly, an actual title for the book.
Now three and a half weeks to edit a one hundred ninety page novel does sound like an excessive amount of time, but if you factor in things like: living in the real world, and juggling two other writing projects (blog posts and Facebook posts) on top of the editing and the editing process itself, then that three and a half weeks looks a little different.
Between book #1 and book #2, I had a three day grace period, which was unevenly divided between needing time to recalibrate, choosing a title for the and reconfirming that #2 was going to be a slog, as I had some continuity issues that needed to be fixed.
Oh and, unless you're on a deadline because this is your 24/7/365 job, being methodical absolutely does with the race.
Book #2 definitely lived up to initial declaration of being a slog, as this two hundred forty-nine page tome toke me from February 7th through March 5, 2026 to complete. Nearly a month was spent methodically picking through line-by-line-by-paragraph tightening and fixing continuity issues, some of which were quite glaring.
I will not that the amount of words excised were more than doubled from book #1, and I believe that was due to the fact that my prose was becoming a little more purplish.
The break time between #23 and #3 increased to four days, which was mostly spent trying to come up with a title, with the remaining in time spent preparing myself to tackle a book that was at least 41% longer than the previous volume. The primary reason for this was that everything was about to come to head, when the multiple storylines were going to converge before heading back out on a parallel journey to the end.
Book #3 exceeded the limits that book #2 had previously established. The nearly three hundred forty-five page monstrosity took me from March 9th to April 23, 2026. Nearly a month and a half of not only y picking through line-by-line and paragraph-by-paragraph, but also making sure that the decision I made earlier by the killing off of two main characters and the subsequent aftermath unfolded in the way that I had intended.
Oh and, what I had stated previously that manufacturer's are overly optimistic about their claims for capacity absolutely came true, as I had to purchase a 1" D-style three ring binder to fit the last 9 chapters of book #3.
In general, this volume was a tough edit, as it left me a little drained and a little sad. When you spend nearly two years that spans three volumes (so far), heavily invested in your characters, there's a certain level of pain when you have to remove a few of them.
I'm not quite sure how long the break will be between book #4 and book #5, but I'm pretty sure I'll be spending the bulk of that time coming up with a title for book #5 that will accurately hint or imply what the final volume is all about.
