It’s done! The edits are done!
Well, this round of edits, anyway...There’ll be more, down the line.
But the third draft of the novel is finished!
This is the first draft that I feel can be seen, so I’m sending it out to beta readers, hoping to get some good (meaning: useful and thorough, not merely positive) feedback.
I’ll also need to send it to sensitivity readers, because some of the characters are from ethnic groups outside my own. I think I’ve done them justice, but I know I’m not the best judge of that. So I’ll ask some friends of mine to be additional readers, letting me know if I’ve messed anything up.
While I wait (and lean into my reading, to unwind a bit), I'm going to work on a short story or three.
Or five.
I found a horror anthology that’s accepting flash fiction on five different subjects through December. The topics are broad enough that I’ve brainstormed a few different story ideas for each.
Since they’re flash pieces, I thought I’d write one up for each topic, and submit them all (which they allow). Five little stories for my brain to chew on while I take a break between editing passes.
What about you? What do you do, between revisions of a longer work? Or do you take any sort of breathing room between them, at all?
