After the 6-AM Editing Challenge

I'm not sure when it ended. A month ago, maybe. Two months? When I started the challenge, remember, I wanted to try and make it through my final semester and make dramatic progress editing Mirrorpass. Which I accomplished. It took a scattering of unproductive weeks in between, but after semester ended, edits were still going strong; in fact, I abandoned my "challenge" schedule and began editing every second I could.

The result?

I finished.

Yes, that's right, I finished this draft! The major overhaul-rewrite-revise-rewrite-again draft that I've been working on for, oh, ages is now done. The final statistics are humbling:

I started the challenge in March and finished somewhere in June.

At the beginning of the challenge, I had 46% of the novel left to edit.

Now the draft is complete.

My starting wordcount was around 95k, and I wanted to be in the 80k range.

My ending wordcount is just under 80k.

I needed to overhaul the entire second act, and the third act until the climax

And I did it!

I had two earlier chapters that, having been edited, also needed rewrites; I did those

And finally, I needed to get it ready for betas, which I did.

Although I'm not sure when the challenge officially ended, I am declaring it an official success. Not only did I accomplish everything I set out to do, it got me over a major roadblock. Whereas before I struggled to make any progress, now I'm well on my way toward finishing.

I can breathe, I can move, I can start fantasizing; I can even start toying with the next story idea. It's such an amazing feeling!

Still, having gotten Mirrorpass this far, I don't want to let this forward momentum die out. I'm looking for betas and passing the full manuscript out. While it's with readers, I'm doing a full continuity edit to iron out any remaining plot or concept wrinkles. After that begins an unquantifiable proccess--line edits, wash rinse repeat, polishing, wash rinse repeat.

And then? Dare I aspire toward the goal of querying?

Perhaps for now I'll wait, and edit, and see; and until then it can be the final unspoken milestone.

Truly and always,

-Creative A