This afternoon at 4:30 p.m. I finished the rough draft of the novel I began a year ago. In it’s current form it is 208 pages long and contains 58,489 words. For those of you who are publishing savy, I know that’s not long enough. I have a plan. 

This draft is sort of like a dress on a hanger. The zippers and seams are finished, but there’s no body filling it out yet. I hope when the body comes along, the dress will be worthy of dinner out on the town. Let’s all pray I haven’t written a house dress, or as my Daddy used to say, a moo-moo.

A few days ago I wrote, I’m a What’s Next? sort of person. So, here’s my calendar:

• Tomorrow and the next day, I read every word I’ve written over and over. It may be painful. Be ready to hear screaming and gnashing of teeth.
• Three days from now, I begin rewriting. The goal is 10 pages a day for 30 days. If you’re like Bacon, you have already done the math and know that 10 x 30 ≠ 208. That’s where the extra words and pages come in. I said I had a plan, didn’t I?
• I’m still too chicken to let you in on part three of the schedule, but it’s coming.

Stay tuned for more details.