A bounty hunter is shipwrecked by a wanted scientist who controls telepaths and berserkers and merely requests his allegiance. Breaking free may cost him his sanity, his life, and the fate of his home planet.
[Editor's note: My podcast interview with Justin Macumber is now up. AudioTim Episode 29: Justin Macumber and his publisher, David Wood, discuss Justin’s debut SF novel, HAYWIRE]
Today has been bittersweet for more than one reason, but I’m trying to focus on the sweet, so here’s the good news: I finished the 3rd Draft of Kaimerus Deception! If you head over to my Works In Progress page, you can read more about it. The history behind this accomplishment is this is the second novel I’ve ever finished. The first was a 115k Fantasy novel that I trunked after an editing course pretty much told me it needed rewritten. Between finishing that book’s first draft and concluding to trunk it, I wrote the first draft of Kaimerus Deception. Eight months after that I began the editing/changing process of fixing the beginning only to keep less than a thousand words of that first draft’s 115k. I finished the 2nd draft rewrite just before Christmas in a much cleaner 73k words.
I was nervous about editing the 2nd draft because both attempts at editing a novel led to a complete rewrite. After this rewrite and shortening it by nearly 45k words I felt more confident that the holes were minor enough that patch work instead of back to the drawing board was in order. I wrote a few blog posts about my note taking and preparation for the next step (3rd Draft: Week One, Keeping it Simple; 3rd Draft: Week Ten, Seeking Professional Editing). The funny part is, after concluding to pay a professional editor for a manuscript evaluation, I had a much easier time editing. I went through the 2nd draft polishing up the prose and fixing minor plot holes, and barely even looked at the notes I spent nearly a month taking. I’m thankful that God gave me a mind to remember what needed changed, because that made that process a little more fun.
So, today I sent the manuscript in to the editor. This is a big step for me because it is the first time I’ve produced a novel someone can read. I suppose people could have read my first novel, but they would have been scratching their heads for most of it. I understand that my editor is probably going to suggest some rewriting (I say “probably” with my tongue firmly bit between my cheek), but it feels good to have fixed it to the best of my abilities. As I mention in the “Week Ten” link above, I’m scheduled to have the manuscript fixed according to her edits and returned by July for a full edit. If all goes as planned, I should be submitting this novel before the end of 2012.
Also, tomorrow is the last day to win a free ebook from Evolved Publishing. My giveaway only requires you having reviewed one of their titles.