The first draft of the novel is as finished as it will get.  I’ve made so many notes and resolved so many story glitches that it doesn’t make sense to finish the first draft before beginning with the second.  Tonight I’m working on finishing the new outline and tomorrow I will begin the first rewrite.

The time off from writing felt too long and it has been difficult to jump back in but I believe it was provident to step away for a while.  Everything is so much clearer now.  I will return to my goal of at least 10,000 words a week.  I hope that with so many details worked out ahead this time it will come a little more quickly.

I would like to have a finished second draft by the end of the year.

That’s only three months away.

If I stick with my goal I can totally do that.  10,000 words a week, four weeks a month (generally), for three months is 120,000 words.

It’s already been one year, almost exactly, since I first got the idea for this book.

The new year is when I first started writing it.

It would be fantastic to end the year with something complete, if imperfect, to show for this book.