I Haven't Stepped on My Tack Yet

Iconic YA author Robert Newton Peck once said not to worry about titles. He claimed they would come quite suddenly, like stepping on a tack in the dark of night, and they'd be exactly the right thing.

Well, with this book, I haven't stepped on that tack yet. I haven't even got out of bed yet.

I take that back. Tonight, I haven't even GONE to bed yet. I worked on filling out a scene a little, and laid down 222 new good words.

Usually, I try not to edit scene by scene, over and over. I strive to do a complete draft, very spare in the description department, but rich in dialogal story-telling. Then I go back and add narrative, checking motivations, pumping up the emotions, and filling in accompanying actions. If I can complete this book in a draft and two edits, I will count myself extremely blessed.

However, I'm participating in an online critique group, and that usually demands rewrites of the submitted scenes to honor suggestions that work. We'll see if this plan of action turns out to be a good thing for the novel. In the meantime, I'm plugging along! Tomorrow I'll work on a needed transition I left out before.