Today’s writing objectives were reached, albeit a little late. We went to bed late the night before, so I was unable to wake up more than an hour before Church. That restricted my morning to just resubmitting stories. The post-midnight hour right before bed was productive, though. Managed a partial re-outlining of “A New Face on an Old Place” that adds a scene at the beginning to bring the overall conflict into focus within the first few lines, as well as the challenge our dastardly protagonist faces.

Upon my return from church and following lunch I sat down and got to it. The first revised draft of “The Lone Blue Strand” is finished. It’s big and ugly, but it’s done. Between it and the rough draft I have a pretty good idea of where the second revision and subsequent final drafts will end up. Despite its chunkiness of 4,608 words I’m confident I’ll be able to get it under 3,500 words. There is some back-and-forth I was able to eliminate between the rough draft and the first revision, and I see where even more of that can be condensed in the follow-up writing.

The last thing I tackled before heading to bed was the second rewrite of the opening two scenes of “A New Face on an Old Place.” While it’s still not quite where I want it to be in terms of pacing and general humorousness, I’m going to start the day off tomorrow – once the day job is done – with finishing up this story.

All in all, not a bad finish to the previous week. The trick will be maintaining the pace. It’s doable. And if I want to meet my writing goals for the month, it’s necessary.

• Nonfiction: 316
• Planning and outlining: 314
• Short Fiction: 6,004
• Novel Fiction: 000
• Salable words: 000

Total Fiction for Month: 36,747

Total Salable for Month: 7,290

Total Fiction for Challenge Year: 86,970

Total Salable for Challenge Year: 18,234