No such things as "drafts" in digital -- just constant change.

My copy-editor has suggested cuts and consolidations to Nearly Human -- plus thinks I should describe characters and the Central Oregon setting more.

So I'm going to dive in over the next four days and see what I can get done.  I have no problem with cutting -- in fact, I usually feel like I'm rushing things, so I let myself go on purpose sometimes.  I have no problem making cuts.

It's big book, so I could cut quite a lot.

What's interesting to me is that most of the early parts she thinks I should cut are from the first efforts -- including the first chapter that sent me on my journey.  It sort of confirms that I was kind of 'feeling' my way at first, and only oriented myself after nearly a year went by.  So this book is going to be very different from those early drafts -- it's like human cells that have been replaced, so that after a time, you don't have the same body, but you still have a body.  I don't have the same book, but I still have a book.

She seems to like the actions scenes -- and especially the "author" scenes -- which is also what I like the most.  I'm thinking of front-loading the "author" chapters -- to get the hardcore horror readers intrigued. 

Cutting the dialogue is in the "process" scenes is O.K. with me -- though I have to be careful not to cut anything that appears important later in the book.  

It will be horror readers who will be reading this, so many of the explanations probably aren't all that necessary.

So...taking a big breath and getting it done.  I'm not worried about having enough time, I'm just worried about not getting confused moving things around -- remembering what I've done and where I've done it.  But I'll just try tackling one problem at a time.

I'm impressed with myself -- my willingness to keep working on this fucking thing.  A few years ago, I would have just given up.

There are no such things as "Drafts" in the digital age  -- only constant change.