Successing....

I am feeling good, though, about the stupid novel.

I finished the re-write on the last important chapter last night. All that's left to re-write is a short ending chapter and an epilogue. Combined, they're about 20 pages or so.....at the rate I've been working, they might be done this week.

Then I'm going to do the following:

1) Start from page 1, and polish/re-write all the dialogue.

2) Re-incorporate some nice writing that I pulled out. There were whole sections of the book that didn't work, and I yanked 'em...but there were some paragraphs/lines/descriptions in there that are worthy of a spot in the book, so I'm gonna incorporate them.

3) Read the whole thing as a whole, without red-lining anything....just to feel the book holistically.

4) Read and red-line it on paper.

5) Incorporate all the red-lines; do any other re-writing necessary.....

6) Send it to an agent.

Here's the thing...most of these steps aren't that daunting, individually. I really think I can have it completed by summer at the worst (although once I start directing the play, things will slow down a bit). Still, I'm optimistic.