The second revision of “The Lone Blue Strand” is finished. A lot of the language has been tightened up, and the story has been condensed down to 3,950 words, much of it written from scratch or adapted from the first revision. There’s still a bit more to be done, but I’m confident I’ll have it finished and submitted tomorrow evening.

The second revision of “A New Face on an Old Place” is also coming along. I added another 1,910 words to the second revision. Tomorrow I plan to push through the rest of it and hopefully arrive at a cohesive plot that I can condense down. My goal is between 3,000 and 4,000 words.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to attempt a rewrite of “A Necessary Sacrifice” for this quarter’s Writers of the Future competition. I really want to submit “Sublease” to them, but I still don’t think my skills as a writer are quite up to what I want to pull off in that story. I’m hoping to get that one out for the June deadline.

• Nonfiction: 430
• Planning and outlining: 000
• Short Fiction: 5,860
• Novel Fiction: 000
• Salable words: 000

Total Fiction for Month: 42,607

Total Salable for Month: 7,290

Total Fiction for Challenge Year: 92,830

Total Salable for Challenge Year: 18,234