Today is the day!

I'm nipping on-line during a coffee break to bring you up to date. I have spent every day since my last book post editing my Shetland Christmas book. Today, I will finish and submit it - as planned. The manuscript has been edited paragraph by paragraph which can be a laborious task, as my brain suddenly throws up brand-new sparkly ideas. Another favourite trick for my brain is the desire to switch the order of chapters to improve the pace of the novel. A first glance, you'd think that was easy but no, it's like juggling jelly as you have to unpick the chapter from its current position and reposition then stitch it into place elsewhere. All date details, times, weather conditions, events and characters need to be rechecked afterwards incase you've skewed the plot sequence. It feels great when completed and you're happy with the result, but it scrambles your brain most of the time. It hasn't happened this time, but there have been occasions when I've completed such a task only to find a blinding error and need to reverse to the original order. Urgh, such fun!

My manuscript has changed from a rainbow of colour into black font as I work through. I'm a visual person so like to see my progress highlighted by the swathe of black which creeps through my manuscript. There's no going back from this point.

The fun part, yes - there is still fun to be had at this stage, is when my brain throws up a tiny detail which slips into the plot without any fuss or trouble. I love those moments, which usually reinforce your themes or character arcs at a deeper level. I've had several of those moment since the weekend.

The word count has been all over the shop since the weekend, sometimes as high as 110,000  before lowering back to nearer 97,000 words. It's quite amazing how it shifts and changes over the course of an edit. 

My plan for tonight is simple - keep polishing until it is done. I have no intention of having this book in my possession by the time I wake for breakfast tomorrow morning (28th January 2021). It will have long gone by then.  

The new book project is currently standing at 32,382 words - I've spent a minimum amount of time each day due to focussing on editing my Christmas book.

My plan for tomorrow is to take the day off; I need to download my brain freeing it from this current manuscript. I intend to
listen to all nine hours of my first audiobook, which is released tomorrow, whilst sketching.