Plugging along

Well, technically it is no longer a first draft ...

I told a friend who has read the first draft that I would not send him any more until I had finished, polished and buffed a decent text. He messaged back that he was willing to read anything I wanted to send, no matter what shape it is in.

One of the hard things about editing and revising is that you have to keep reading the same thing over and over and it gets really really really really old really really really really fast. (The first editorial advice I got when I submitted an article to a magazine was that one need never use the word really as a modifier. Really.)

I appreciate the fact that he read the first draft, but if I start sending him every little variation that I am writing at the moment, he will pull his hair out or maybe move to another state and not give me his forwarding address. So I think I will spare him that.

I am making progress, however. This morning when I started re-reading the middle section, I found I did not hate it quite as much as I did yesterday. The patchwork quilt is starting to come together. More to do, more to do. But I am keeping calm.