57,501

I reached the end of the first, large section of Masks. The way I remember it, the second section is shorter. It also needs the most revising. Still, here we are in May and it looks like I'll finish Masks well before the end of the year. Then, finally, I can send out queries (and upgrade to another Mac instead of the dreaded PC. Boy, talk about a motivator.)

I should mention that INKers have cattle prods after the style of a writer who, if he didn't meet his writing goal, forced himself to write a check to a nasty conservative religious group he particularly despised above all others. He told his friends of this goal, and the one time he didn't make his goal, he wrote a check. He never missed a goal after that.

My cattle prod is that if I don't reach my goal, which is to finish revising Masks by the end of the year, I'm not allowed to upgrade my computer to a Mac. I must upgrade to a PC. I told my fellow INKers and anyone who I thought would care about this. Not following through is not an option, and I want to throw up when I think about upgrading to a PC instead of a Mac, hence, not reaching my goal is not an option.

It's the strongest motivator I've found since I've started writing. It's taken me through Chapter Eight in Masks, to 57,501 words that I wouldn't blush in total shame to show an editor or agent. Masks will still need a final polish before I can send it out, but after the revision I shouldn't need anything in perfect (or as close as I can get it) form for queries. Queries will require ten pages at most of the manuscript if any at all, and while the queries are out I can polish to my wee heart's content. And should a query come back with a request for the whole manuscript before I'm done polishing, I won't mind the last part being rough. If they read that far, I'm doing good, and they'll know I'm capable of doing better (or they may find the rough part reads faster and is more entertaining--polishing does tend to suck the freshness and soul from a manuscript.) At that point any rewriting will be to spec--oh joy! No decisions to make, no worries about if this reads too fast or too slow or is too cliche'--an 'expert' (more importantly, the person responsible for getting me paid) will make most of the decisions for me. Unless they're way off base and derail the plot with a suggestion (which is wholly possible,) I see no reason to argue a fine point in a rewrite when they're offering me money to do it.

But I'm getting way, way ahead of myself. This is a display of excitement and enthusiasm after reaching a landmark in the editing process. Boy, I hate editing. But sometimes, it can be fun. Today was a good day.