A second -- second draft.

I'm giving myself another 12 day period to go through 'I'm Only Human.'

A second - second rewrite, if you will.

I'm starting with the second half of the book, so that I'll have a higher energy level with that section.

I was looking for a tricks to get me into improving this draft. I'm basically telling myself to be more colorful in my language, more magical in my scenarios, more snarky in tone.

I still have to write the last chapter, and there will be the physical printing of a couple or three manuscripts for others to read. So I might spend the whole 12 day period writing and not quite finish, so I'll extend it into the next week if I need to. But -- come what may -- there will be a reading-copy by the first week of March.

As I've said before, this is a very different writing experience than I've ever had before with a book.

I was writing on a manual typewriter back in the day. I was disorganized, chaotic, and the whole writing process made it difficult for me to see the end product clearly. I was so sick of typing the same words, that I felt a huge urge to finish and get it done.

Because I was actually trying to make a career out of writing, and because I had gotten to the point where the fixes were sometimes worse than the cures, I would send my manuscripts off, ready or not.

Unfortunately, in most cases, they probably weren't ready. I was hoping that someone could see the potential and do a "fix" for me. Of course, that just doesn't happen these days to a beginning writer unless you have something with such spectacular potential that they're willing to deal with you.

It was an advantage, I think, to be sending my manuscript off the strangers. Either the book was good enough for them, or it wasn't. There was no personal judging me. It was pretty impersonal, and that was O.K. Easier to shrug off. Easier to find other excuses as to why they didn't like my manuscript.

This time around, it seems a little more personal. Instead of the way it happened with my first book, when my family and friends didn't expect anything from me and were therefore capable of being surprised, this time the expectations might be too high.

Anyway, for the first time, I can see why authors hold onto manuscripts trying to improve them, because as long as they aren't finished, there is a chance to try to make them better.

When I hand over the manuscripts to my 'editors' it will be with the instructions: Look, this may not be as good as you expected, but what I want is for suggestions to make it better. Do your worse. I'm too far along to quit now.