Wordcount Wednesday

Wow. I just checked. It's been three months since I did a Wordcount Wednesday post! I know, I know, I'm awful, but I have a good reason why. I've been working on Failstate, polishing and editing and slicing and dicing and revamping and reordering and . . . well, you get the idea. And I was not slaving in the editing mines alone. The one, the only, the inimitable Sharon Hinck was toiling with me, guiding me and helping me. She helped nudge me in better directions, pointed out places where my characters didn't quite work, and generally helped me see both the strengths and weaknesses of my prose.

Now I considered continuing my Wordcount Wednesdays, but I knew that I'd be so all over the place, working on this chapter here and then that chapter there, my wordcount would fluctuate like crazy and would be too hard to track. So I put it all on hold. I didn't keep track of it at all, having no idea if my total was rising, falling, remaining stable. I knew I had cut half a dozen chapters but expanded others. It wasn't until I put the finishing touches on the final chapter that I broke out my notebook and calculator to see what the damages were.

So here we go, the moment of truth. Before I began this latest edit, Failstate clocked in at 111,885 words. I had hoped to drop a lot of those words, to at least get the count below a hundred grand. And I did it, but just barely. As of right now, Failstate is 98,743 words. So I did manage to lose 13,142 words, not as many as I hoped to, but not too bad. That final count might fluctuate a little. I don't know if I can cut much more but I'm sure I could keep tweaking. There's always room for improvement.

So what's next? I'm not too sure. One thing I do know, this Friday I'm off to the ACFW Conference in Indianapolis. I'll be doing my best to sell both Failstate and maybe even Numb. Who knows? I'll be praying for success but leaving it in God's hands because honestly, that's the best place to leave my writing career. He's got it under control. If this is my year, so be it. If not, I'll just keep working.

I'm just not sure on what . . .