I did it! The manuscript’s off to editor land! She weighs in at 22 chapters, around 60,000 words.
As I went along, I knew I’d want to rewrite the opening, that’s kind of like the window dressing for the book. But when I thought of the movies and books I love, there’s always a nice continuity between the ending and beginning. That led me to put the opening and closing chapters up side by side as I wrote them. I hoped they’d (don’t say it) bookend each other (of course he said it). It was a good move, as both compliment each other well.
It’s so fun to observe just how much my style changed from when I started in January 2022. My goal with tone and style was always conversational and breezy, but today things flow much better and feel tighter. While writing this, life forced me to stuff this book in a drawer to sit for a few months. Ultimately, it turned out to be a good thing, coming back to dust off the cobwebs was an opportunity to retell some of what I started saying, but with a finer point on it.
I’m so relieved to have this MASSIVE milestone behind me and am looking forward to what comes next: getting illustrations and editorial review. Also, a few tears are likely when some of my jokes get cut. My editor will (hopefully) save you from the worst of them.