WHEW.

I'm still working on VANISHING ACT (which was once called UNNATURAL). Started with a draft of 89k. The file I'm now staring at is 66,866 words. Sure, I may have had to sacrifice most of the last 5 chapters (sob) and there's one I yanked out entirely because I'm going to have to rework it from scratch, but this editing pass is done. This draft was by far the worst one.

For those playing along at home, this is draft #eleventybillion and one. Kidding. I honestly don't know how many drafts this is. I think I edited this book 6 or 7 times before I said to my agent "Hey, can I make it a YA?" She said yes, so I edited it again, and sent it back.

This round was to fix the (tons) of suggestions she had, to shorten the draft, and to type in the mark-up changes I'd written out on paper.

I have a list of notes for stuff to fix in successive drafts (like we talked about in the prior post) and the list is here:

1) Make R a conspiracy theorist - check his dialogue and actions
2) D threatens L via J - make sure to add this in and to correct their interactions -- this changes J's motivation
3) L's personality = too old. Fix!
4) Connect gym scene (okay, so I have no idea what I meant when I wrote that one down, but I'm sure I'll understand what the hell I'm talking about when I actually get to the gym scene again)
5) J should be able to hear W's thoughts starting at page 206. Note to self--Either this scene needs to change or I need a workaround.
6) School lunch room (correct prior scenes showing private kitchen)
7) p213 - helmet?
Add in chapter of doom.

Some of these are a snap to fix. Like, say, #3. I just basically do a word-search for his name, tweak his dialogue and body language so he actually sounds his age. Some of it (I'm looking at you, #8) is going to break my brain.

But whew. Feeling a major sense of relief here as I move forward! The hardest stuff is done.