{"id":9018,"date":"2023-10-01T21:31:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-01T21:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?p=9018"},"modified":"2024-05-26T23:20:51","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T23:20:51","slug":"the-nuclear-submarine-u-s-s-bodacious-resurfaces-after-six-months-of-deep-and-silent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-nuclear-submarine-u-s-s-bodacious-resurfaces-after-six-months-of-deep-and-silent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nuclear Submarine U.S.S. Bodacious Resurfaces After Six Months of \u201cDeep and Silent\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About five months ago, I bought a count\u00addown clock that sits direct\u00adly below my com\u00adput\u00ader mon\u00adi\u00adtor, and for 157 days it\u2019s been tick\u00ading down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been tick\u00ading down to my self-imposed dead\u00adline for the sec\u00adond draft of my behe\u00admoth epic nov\u00adel (a series, actu\u00adal\u00adly). Last Decem\u00adber, I set a dead\u00adline for myself: I would fin\u00adish this draft by Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 30, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, I fin\u00adished two days ahead of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m proud of myself. If noth\u00ading else, I\u2019ve been incred\u00adi\u00adbly pro\u00adduc\u00adtive. In 157 days, I wrote 337,397 new words (or an aver\u00adage of 2,135\/day); I revised 189,858 words (an aver\u00adage of 1,202 words); mak\u00ading for a total of 527,255 words (3,337\/day). To do this, I rou\u00adtine\u00adly woke at 3 a.m. (espe\u00adcial\u00adly dur\u00ading the final 30-day push) and worked 16 hours a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speak\u00ading for myself, the sec\u00adond draft of every nov\u00adel I write is usu\u00adal\u00adly the hard\u00adest. It\u2019s the hard\u00adest draft because it\u2019s the one in which you need to def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly deter\u00admine what the sto\u00adry is, and you need to put in EVERYTHING so that when you start work on the third draft, you can focus on cut\u00adting. Basi\u00adcal\u00adly, if you liken the nov\u00adel-writ\u00ading process to sculp\u00adture, the first two drafts are when you\u2019re mak\u00ading your block of clay or mar\u00adble, and in the sub\u00adse\u00adquent drafts you chip away every\u00adthing that does\u00adn\u2019t look like the sto\u00adry you\u2019ve envis\u00adaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now that the sec\u00adond draft is com\u00adplete, I believe that all of that hard work has been worth it. My teen epic (the first of its kind) now totals 1,542,148 <\/strong>words. I did the cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtions the oth\u00ader day, and the 1.5 mil\u00adlion words of my epic is the equiv\u00ada\u00adlent of 300<\/strong> five-thou\u00adsand-word short sto\u00adries.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Snoopy and Wood\u00adstock, trem\u00adbling beneath the 2,900-page Brob\u00add\u00ading\u00adna\u00adgian man\u00adu\u00adscript.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Rec\u00adog\u00adniz\u00ading that mod\u00adern read\u00aders pre\u00adfer their sto\u00adries in more com\u00adpact, \u201cbinge\u00adable\u201d sizes, I have divid\u00aded this Brob\u00add\u00ading\u00adna\u00adgian tale into 14 more man\u00adage\u00adable \u201cepisodes\u201d of about 100,000 words each, and when I pub\u00adlish the series in approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly two years, I\u2019ll do it seri\u00adal\u00adly<\/em>\u2014with a new install\u00adment com\u00ading out every two to three months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been work\u00ading on this teen epic for eight years now. Eight years.<\/em> In the time that I\u2019ve been writ\u00ading, the plan\u00adet Earth has revolved around the sun eight times; the world under\u00adwent cat\u00ada\u00adstroph\u00adic upheaval from COVID-19; and my nephew, who was five years old when I start\u00aded, cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded his 13th<\/sup> birth\u00adday (but he\u2019s still into Legos\u2014good for you, dude).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to pow\u00ader this word out\u00adput, over the course of these eight years, fig\u00adur\u00ading a con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive aver\u00adage of 5 cups per day, I have drunk 14,600 cups of cof\u00adfee.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sec\u00adond draft is done, but there\u2019s obvi\u00adous\u00adly a lot<\/em> of work to do on the series. Start\u00ading in Decem\u00adber, the work will shift to revi\u00adsion, par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly to par\u00ading down the mam\u00admoth man\u00adu\u00adscript. My aim is to cut about 300,000 words (or 20%) so that when I final\u00adly pub\u00adlish the series, it will be a dozen vol\u00adumes of 100,000 words each. This will make my series twice<\/em> as long as Tolstoy\u2019s War and Peace<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why am I fix\u00adat\u00aded on all of these num\u00adbers, you ask? Well, I\u2019ve writ\u00adten about this on my blog before\u2014and men\u00adtioned it in inter\u00adviews and podcasts\u2014but nov\u00adel writ\u00ading is as much a num\u00adbers game as it is a words game. In order to write a novel\u2014and espe\u00adcial\u00adly a long<\/em> novel\u2014you have to pro\u00adduce a lot of words (at least 1,000) a day, and you have to pro\u00adduce con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to pro\u00adduce con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly, you have to dras\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly reduce (if not elim\u00adi\u00adnate) the dis\u00adtrac\u00adtions in your life. You have to\u2014selfishly and unequivocally\u2014make your writ\u00ading the cen\u00adter of your uni\u00adverse. This means not engag\u00ading with social media. It means not spend\u00ading as much time with your friends as you might like. It means sac\u00adri\u00adfic\u00ading sleep, fam\u00adi\u00adly gath\u00ader\u00adings, birth\u00adday par\u00adties, Christ\u00admas par\u00adties, movie pre\u00admieres, vaca\u00adtions, and even know\u00ading what\u2019s hap\u00adpen\u00ading in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The com\u00adput\u00ader I use for writ\u00ading does not<\/em> have an inter\u00adnet con\u00adnec\u00adtion; I have pur\u00adpose\u00adly set up my work process and tools to be free of the inter\u00adnet. (Indeed, I enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly agree with nov\u00adel\u00adist Jonathan Franzen who in his \u201cTen Rules for Nov\u00adel\u00adists\u201d writes (Rule #8) that any\u00adbody with access to the inter\u00adnet while they\u2019re writ\u00ading is prob\u00ada\u00adbly not pro\u00adduc\u00ading very inter\u00adest\u00ading fic\u00adtion.)  I check my email once a day (on my phone), and I only go on the inter\u00adnet about once a week. There are only two peo\u00adple in the world with whom I text reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly: my wife and Jason Scott Sad\u00adof\u00adsky<\/a>. I don\u2019t have com\u00admer\u00adcial TV (only stream\u00ading), so I don\u2019t watch the news or see com\u00admer\u00adcials for prod\u00aducts. I don\u2019t lis\u00adten to the news on the radio, and if I\u2019m lis\u00adten\u00ading to music on the local clas\u00adsi\u00adcal or clas\u00adsic rock sta\u00adtion and the news comes on, I shut it off.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Over the years a few peo\u00adple have asked me what it\u2019s like to be a nov\u00adel\u00adist, to spend all of your wak\u00ading hours (not to men\u00adtion your sleep\u00ading hours) inhab\u00adit\u00ading and writ\u00ading about worlds of your own cre\u00adation. To answer their ques\u00adtion, I\u2019ve giv\u00aden peo\u00adple a num\u00adber of analo\u00adgies, but I think the best one is that it\u2019s like being on a nuclear sub\u00adma\u00adrine when it\u2019s gone \u201cdeep and qui\u00adet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re sub\u00admerged, umpteen fath\u00adoms down, cut off from the rest of the world, focused exclu\u00adsive\u00adly on your mis\u00adsion. Over the course of those eight years, I\u2019ve prob\u00ada\u00adbly gone \u201cdeep and qui\u00adet\u201d for five or six months a dozen times. This means that I\u2019ve been out of touch, focused on noth\u00ading but my mis\u00adsion, for approx\u00adi\u00admate\u00adly five of the last eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While \u201cdeep and qui\u00adet,\u201d how\u00adev\u00ader, I\u2019ve had to con\u00adtend with the equiv\u00ada\u00adlent of fires aboard my sub\u00adma\u00adrine, but I haven\u2019t let those divert me from my mis\u00adsion to write and FINISH<\/em> my epic-length series. Over the past eight years I\u2019ve had to write through tooth abscess\u00ades and implants, con\u00adtract\u00ading COVID, a bro\u00adken hand, get\u00adting sober from alco\u00adhol (I will have 5 years\u2019 sobri\u00adety on 11\/11\/23), car break\u00addowns, my spouse get\u00adting sick with COVID (and tak\u00ading care of her), mov\u00ading, house-hunt\u00ading (with\u00adout suc\u00adcess 3 sep\u00ada\u00adrate times for six months to a year), com\u00adput\u00aders dying, an uncle dying, \u201crun\u00adner\u2019s knee,\u201d and back issues. The back issues became such a prob\u00adlem (even despite my $2,000 Aeron chair) a few months ago, that I had to get a motor\u00adized sit-stand desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Invari\u00adably, when I resur\u00adface after one of these long \u201cdeep and qui\u00adet\u201d peri\u00adods, a lot of stuff has happened\u2014stuff that oth\u00ader peo\u00adple encounter and deal with in their dai\u00adly lives, but which I know noth\u00ading about. When I resur\u00adfaced ear\u00adli\u00ader this week, here are some of the things I just found out about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Ukraine is beat\u00ading back Rus\u00adsia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Putin is still a major DICK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- The Island of Maui burned to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- The econ\u00ado\u00admy of Venezuela col\u00adlapsed, and thou\u00adsands of refugees have been hik\u00ading north through the jun\u00adgles of South and Cen\u00adtral Amer\u00adi\u00adca to get to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- There\u2019s a new Stu\u00addent Loan For\u00adgive\u00adness pro\u00adgram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Chad Look\u00adabaugh, the local ten\u00adnis pro I took lessons from and did work\u00adouts with, died sud\u00adden\u00adly in Jan\u00adu\u00adary<\/a>. He was a great guy, and I\u2019ll miss hang\u00ading out with him in the win\u00adter in front of the fire\u00adplace in the lob\u00adby of his ten\u00adnis club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Infla\u00adtion is a very real thing; yet, mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous\u00adly, gaso\u00adline prices remain steady (hmm\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Kids\u2019 cere\u00adal icons Count Choc\u00adu\u00adla, BooBer\u00adry and Franken\u00adBer\u00adry now have a female coun\u00adter\u00adpart (well, it\u2019s about time!) named Caramel\u00adla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- Sad\u00adly (because I own a good amount of Tes\u00adla stock), Elon Musk seems to be behav\u00ading like Veronica\u2019s dip\u00adshit rich broth\u00ader in the Archie comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- The mak\u00aders of products\u2014especially food\u2014are up to their old tricks again with shrink\u00adfla\u00adtion<\/em>: charg\u00ading you the same (or more) for less prod\u00aduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- The U.S. gov\u00adern\u00adment shut down, or is\/was about to shut down, or some\u00adthing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

- And instead of Crack\u00ader Jacks, it\u2019s now all about Crack\u00ader Jills<\/em> (good rid\u00addance, Jack; you and your frig\u00adgin\u2019 mutt on the pack\u00adage had like a 90-year run, and towards the end I COULD NEVER FIND YOU F\u2011CKS any\u00adwhere!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s my point? Although it\u2019s a bit of cul\u00adture shock to resur\u00adface and learn that so many things have changed while I\u2019ve been preoccupied\u2014on my mis\u00adsion as it were\u2014I don\u2019t regret a minute of it. For the past eight years, I\u2019ve been hap\u00adpi\u00adly ensconced in 1986\u201387 Amer\u00adi\u00adca, specif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly in the world of teenagers at that time. I can\u2019t tell you any\u00adthing about what\u2019s going on right now, but I can tell you that in Octo\u00adber 1986 the U.S.\u2013U.S.S.R. talks at Reyk\u00adjavik broke down, and that in Novem\u00adber 1986 the Iran-Con\u00adtra scan\u00addal came to light. I can tell you that in Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 1986 the song \u201cVenus\u201d by Bana\u00adnara\u00adma was at the top of the charts, and Huey Lewis and the News\u2019 \u201cStuck with You\u201d was ris\u00ading on the charts as well. I can tell you that in Octo\u00adber 1986, dur\u00ading the sea\u00adson pre\u00admiere of Dal\u00adlas<\/em>, it was revealed that every\u00adthing that hap\u00adpened in the pre\u00advi\u00adous season\u2014when Bob\u00adby Ewing died\u2014was a dream in Pam Ewing\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For eight years I\u2019ve been inhab\u00adit\u00ading a world when the U.S. was on top, when Chi\u00adna was just a coun\u00adtry with almost a bil\u00adlion peo\u00adple that rode bicy\u00adcles every\u00adwhere, when the U.S.S.R. was crum\u00adbling, when Ronald Rea\u00adgan was Pres\u00adi\u00addent,  when \u201ccel\u00adlu\u00adlar tele\u00adphones\u201d were extreme\u00adly rare and were big\u00adger than mil\u00adi\u00adtary walkie-talkies (see the beach scene in the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Wall Street<\/em>)l, when The Cos\u00adby Show<\/em> was #1 on TV, when phone booths were still avail\u00adable, and when\u2014GASP\u2014there was no inter\u00adnet<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A gallery of some of the 1980s images I\u2019ve sur\u00adround\u00aded myself with for eight years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been sub\u00admerged here for quite a while, though, and so it\u2019s good to come up for some 2023 air. With this in mind, I\u2019m giv\u00ading myself the entire month of Octo\u00adber off. What am I going to do? Take naps. Hike. Swim. Lift weights. Run. Climb a moun\u00adtain or two. Stretch. Play with my dog. Seek out type\u00adwrit\u00aders at vin\u00adtage stores. Vis\u00adit vin\u00adtage cloth\u00ading stores for appar\u00adel for my edi\u00adtor alter-ego (to debut in Novem\u00adber or December\u2014stay tuned). Lis\u00adten to jazz and clas\u00adsi\u00adcal music (any\u00adthing but \u201980s rock and pop, which is all I\u2019ve been lis\u00adten\u00ading to for eight years). Have some great meals out. Go to Boston. Go to the Adiron\u00addacks. Buy a set of cross-coun\u00adtry skat\u00ading skis for what I hope will be a record amount of snow\u00adfall this win\u00adter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be spend\u00ading a lot more time with THIS guy in October\u2013my faith\u00adful writ\u00ading com\u00adpan\u00adion, Mr. Dashiell Ham\u00admett. :)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And last, but not least, read about 20 books (a dozen of them will be re-reads) dur\u00ading the break so I\u2019m not think\u00ading about my teen epic, includ\u00ading Loli\u00adta<\/em>, Robin\u00adson Cru\u00adsoe<\/em>, The Odyssey<\/em>, Goldfin\u00adger<\/em>, The Longest Day<\/em>, High Adven\u00adture<\/em>, The Great Gats\u00adby<\/em>, A Farewell to Arms<\/em>, Self-Edit\u00ading for Fic\u00adtion Writ\u00aders<\/em>, Edi\u00adtors on Edit\u00ading<\/em>, Imme\u00addi\u00adate Fic\u00adtion<\/em>, Max Perkins: Edi\u00adtor of Genius<\/em>, a book about fonts<\/em> enti\u00adtled Just My Type<\/em>, and books on gram\u00admar and punc\u00adtu\u00ada\u00adtion as I pre\u00adpare to under\u00adtake my favorite part of the writ\u00ading process in December\u2014revision, edit\u00ading and pol\u00adish\u00ading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, how\u00adev\u00ader, I\u2019m archiv\u00ading my work on this draft and print\u00ading the com\u00adplet\u00aded draft. It\u2019s stag\u00adger\u00ading to see the stacks and stacks of pages I\u2019ve pro\u00adduced to bring me to this point\u2014the dozens of legal pads of long\u00adhand notes and pages from the nov\u00adel; the hun\u00addreds of pages typed on one of my type\u00adwrit\u00aders and scanned and OCR\u2019d into the com\u00adput\u00ader; the dozens of spi\u00adral note\u00adbooks of char\u00adac\u00adter sketch\u00ades or scene ideas; the reams of \u201980s pic\u00adtures and research files. All of this mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal is being boxed up and stored out of my purview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I print\u00aded two copies of the nov\u00adel. One copy is stored in my base\u00adment, and the sec\u00adond is in the trunk of my car. Each copy is 2,915 legal pages (sin\u00adgle-spaced). These are sole\u00adly emer\u00adgency hard-copies\u2014in case all of the 10\u201312 hard dri\u00adve and USB stick back\u00adups of my writ\u00ading are sud\u00adden\u00adly wiped out by an EMP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor Snoopy and Wood\u00adstock with my epic nov\u00adel (6 reams of legal paper) loom\u00ading over them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For the past 30 years that I\u2019ve been revis\u00ading my writ\u00ading, I\u2019ve always<\/em> made hand-edits on print\u00aded pages, then entered those changes into a word pro\u00adcess\u00ading file. But hav\u00ading just fin\u00adished the 2nd<\/sup> draft, when I engaged in that process for lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly thou\u00adsands of pages<\/em>, each page with dozens and dozens of small edits on it, I real\u00adized that if I want to fin\u00adish this colos\u00adsus some\u00adtime dur\u00ading my life\u00adtime<\/em> (seri\u00adous\u00adly, I want to pub\u00adlish in the fall of 2025), I can\u2019t use this paper process any\u00admore. It triples the amount of time that revi\u00adsions take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, sir\u2026this time I\u2019m going hi-tech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this part of the process my dar\u00adling wife just bought me a new Microsoft Sur\u00adface tablet, which will enable me to read the nov\u00adel any\u00adwhere and either make edits on the device or at least put in short com\u00adments, flag\u00adging spots that I need to fix. Any\u00adway, I\u2019m excit\u00aded about it because I have a feel\u00ading it\u2019s going to make this part of the process much more effi\u00adcient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have to say, Microsoft has seri\u00adous\u00adly upped their game in recent years with the advent of their Sur\u00adface tablets. Glad I\u2019m a stock\u00adhold\u00ader!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The moment I got the tablet, I gave it a seri\u00adous test. The hard\u00adest part of the process was get\u00adting it updat\u00aded, logged in, etc., but once that was done I loaded THE ENTIRE 1.54-MILLION-WORD NOVEL onto this thing that weighs about a pound, is small\u00ader than a sheet of paper, and only as thick as 20\u201330 sheets of paper (maybe). It\u2019s incred\u00adi\u00adble<\/em>, and I am con\u00adfi\u00addent that it\u2019s going to revis\u00ading the 3rd<\/sup> draft much, much more effi\u00adcient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My plan for this com\u00ading draft is as fol\u00adlows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Take the month of Octo\u00adber off com\u00adplete\u00adly<\/em>. Ded\u00adi\u00adcate my days to work\u00ading out, eat\u00ading well, going places with my dog every day, going to thrift stores, going out to lunch with friends (all 2 or three of them). On rainy days, I\u2019ll con\u00adsol\u00adi\u00addate the papers (ran\u00addom notes, ref\u00ader\u00adence mate\u00adri\u00adals, etc.) and come up with a mas\u00adter list of \u201980s-relat\u00aded \u201cstuff\u201d that I want to make sure I work into the nov\u00adel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Start\u00ading Novem\u00adber 1, I will read (with\u00adout edit\u00ading; not an easy task for a nov\u00adel\u00adist) the entire series. This read\u00ading will be done in three main ways: a) on the tablet, b) on the print\u00aded hard copy, and c) with the \u201ccom\u00adput\u00ader lady\u201d read\u00ading the book to me as I walk on the tread\u00admill and work out\u2014maybe even as I\u2019m hik\u00ading! While read\u00ading, I will NOT be mak\u00ading revi\u00adsions; this first read is to try to get a view of the entire for\u00adest, to step back and see the vista with\u00adout becom\u00ading obsessed about one or two trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than mak\u00ading edits to the man\u00adu\u00adscript, I plan on keep\u00ading audio record\u00adings (this is where the tablet comes in) of notes of errors, things to fact-check, and over\u00adall impres\u00adsions of each day\u2019s read\u00ading, chap\u00adters and episodes. Keep audio record\u00adings of all this stuff so I don\u2019t stop read\u00ading to make edits. Do a jour\u00adnal entry every evening with that day\u2019s impressions\u2014what pages I cov\u00adered, my gut impres\u00adsions of that day\u2019s mate\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal, and my thoughts on what will need to be revised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Start\u00ading Decem\u00adber 1, lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly putting on my editor\u2019s hat (stay tuned), I will begin the revi\u00adsion and edit\u00ading. I\u2019m giv\u00ading myself one year to revise the entire series. My plan is to quick\u00adly \u201cswoop\u201d through the entire series three times in a year, start\u00ading by mak\u00ading the largest revi\u00adsions (any big CUTS that need to be made) first, and grad\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly mak\u00ading my revi\u00adsion and edit\u00ading more gran\u00adu\u00adlar as the year goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main way in which this draft is going to be dif\u00adfer\u00adent from the process I\u2019ve used with all of my pre\u00advi\u00adous books is this: there will be NO hand-cor\u00adrec\u00adtions made to a paper draft that then need to be entered into the com\u00adput\u00ader. In the past, this is the part of the process that has con\u00adsumed the most time. Hon\u00adest\u00adly, I real\u00adly, real\u00adly pre\u00adfer this leisure\u00adly, tac\u00adtile method, but I don\u2019t have the lux\u00adu\u00adry with this behe\u00admoth novel\u2014not if I want to release it in late Novem\u00adber 2025. With the tablet, I\u2019ll be able to read and\/or lis\u00adten to the book and make edits to the file itself. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Hon\u00adest\u00adly, though, I\u2019m a lit\u00adtle sad that I have to give up the paper edit\u00ading. Espe\u00adcial\u00adly in the fall, when one of my favorite things to do in life is to sit on my deck with a hot cup of cof\u00adfee, a crisp stack of pages, and a red pen. But there will be oth\u00ader, short\u00ader nov\u00adels for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most impor\u00adtant thing for me in the com\u00ading year is to just get the sonov\u00adabitch DONE. I\u2019m break\u00ading the year up into three 120-day \u201cswoop\u00ading\u201d peri\u00adods; dur\u00ading each 120-day cycle, I plan to \u201cswoop\u201d through the entire man\u00adu\u00adscript, start\u00ading with iden\u00adti\u00adfy\u00ading large sec\u00adtions that can\/should be cut, and mak\u00ading my revi\u00adsions and edit\u00ading increas\u00ading\u00adly gran\u00adu\u00adlar with the next two \u201cswoops.\u201d My plan is that by next Decem\u00adber (2024) I will have gone through the entire 14-episode series three times. And then, in 2025 and 2026 I\u2019ll pol\u00adish each episode pri\u00ador to pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check back here in late Octo\u00adber or ear\u00adly Novem\u00adber for the debut of my edit\u00ading alter-ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My dog, Dashiell Ham\u00admett, is utter\u00adly \u201cpooched\u201d (a Downeast Maine trope) after the months of hard work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

About five months ago, I bought a count\u00addown clock that sits direct\u00adly below my com\u00adput\u00ader mon\u00adi\u00adtor, and for 157 days it\u2019s been tick\u00ading down. It\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,19,337,77,7,10,14,233,15],"tags":[637,638,639,644,609,642,339,340,531,640,645,643,641,636,93,355,392],"class_list":["post-9018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chris-orcutt-books","category-fiction","category-novel-writing","category-novels","category-personal","category-technologyandinternet","category-writingexperiences","category-writing-life","category-writingtools","tag-1980s","tag-80s","tag-adventure","tag-deadlines","tag-epic-novel","tag-male-romance","tag-novel-writing","tag-novel-writing-process","tag-novelists-work-day","tag-romance","tag-second-draft","tag-submarines","tag-teen-romance","tag-teens","tag-writing","tag-writing-life","tag-writing-process"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9018"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9048,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9018\/revisions\/9048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}