22 July 2021: Revision Progress
Revisions take time. Obviously, I know this.
I'm currently working on revising Just Friends as my Camp NaNo project for July, but admittedly, I thought I'd be much further along than I am now. In my original projections for the month, I thought I'd be working on some of the later chapters, but I have yet to even reach the midpoint of the novel.
Is that a good thing? As an underwriter, maybe. I'm fleshing out details that I overlooked, I'm fixing consistency errors, and adding new content, which has been eating up most of the month.
When I started the revision, the draft was at 49,200 words. As I write this blog, the revision sits at 24,633 words and I'm currently working on chapter four. Clearly, this revision is going to be a chunky boi.
To exemplify some of the changes:
Chapter 1: 3797 words → 4216 words
Chapter 2: 2470 words → 3845 words
Chapter 3: 5322 words → 6391 words
Chapter 4 (new chapter in progress): 9829 words
Hefty, no?
Just seeing the jump in word count from chapter to chapter reassures me that I'm addressing a lot of the issues that were prevalent due to underwriting. I don't think I'm having that issue now.
Even though I'm less than halfway through the manuscript, it feels stronger. I'm proud of the improvements in my writing, which means that however long it takes will be worth it.
I'd love to finish the revision before I'm back to work, but if not, I'll keep trucking through as best I can. What matters is that I finish the story and that I feel it's the best it can be.