Well, it’s been an interesting road, more so than when I edited Seeing Is Believing. I had less of a break between writing this novel and editing it, but I think I did a decent job. I certainly found problems that in earlier times I might have missed.
I think this edit does prove one thing. My thought that I should not be giving as much lead space between the two steps appears valid. Despite common belief, in my case I become more enamored with my novels the longer I let them sit. It makes it harder to see the cracks and holes because I’m reacquainting myself with an old friend.
This puts a heavy burden on me to do more with what I write than tuck it in a corner in the expectation of going back and editing “some day.” It also means that I’ll have to read each of my older works enough to get over that “ooh shiny” before I can see the problems within them. On the other hand, if I can keep moving on the things I write, I’ll get them out faster and with less grief.
As to Con Shirt itself, I’ll have to wait on feedback from my critters to know for sure. It’s my first attempt at an urban fantasy novel. It has some things in common with those I’ve read…and other things that are somewhat different. If it works, I’m happy, whether or not it finds a home in that specific genre. I suspect there are still things to fix, okay, I’m sure of that much, but I got rid of several continuity errors, fixed a lost thread or two, and tidied here or there.
It was a fun novel to write. Not hideous to edit either. We’ll see if I walk this particular path again. I guess it depends on whether it looks like I’m any good at it :).
And stats:
Edited Today: 6,082 words
38 Chapters complete – 105% of the novel
-1 Chapters remain
-3,660/ Remaining word count (original/remaining)
79,597 Total