As always, I’d like to begin this week’s progress report by thanking all of you awesome people who’ve followed, liked and/or commented on my blog!

Here are this week’s stats:

Words Rewritten This Week: 3,163

Last Chapter of Second Draft Completed: Chapter 1

Chapters To Go (subject to change): 24

Days Until January 20th Goal Date: 99

Thoughts?

Can I just tell you about how happy I am to be working on my book again? Because I am thrilled to be back in this story with my characters.

I had a couple of concerns going into this rewrite. My first concern was that I’d come back to find that I’d lost interest in my story. My second concern was that I’d begin rewriting only to find that I didn’t really want to change anything. Both concerns have proven false.

First, I’ve definitely not lost interest in this story. Writing the first draft was cathartic for me and helped me to heal from my past. Though I’ve only been working on the second draft for a few days, I can already tell that I’m sharpening it. Since finishing the first draft, I believe I’ve gained the necessary maturity and perspective to make this story even stronger.

Second, there are things on every single page I want to at least tweak, if not completely rewrite. Right now, my system is to read one page at a time, make handwritten corrections/notes in red pen, then re-type the page into the second draft doc on my laptop. And so far, every single page has red ink on it.

After wrapping up rewriting on Wednesday, I sat back and imagined meeting up with James and Character B in that forest-y spot in my mind that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. James came into the clearing first, beaming. There aren’t words to describe how happy I was to see him again. I told him we have to go through it all again. He said he knew, that we’d get through it together. Then Character B came into the clearing. I would’ve thought that seeing my beloved James would make me cry first. Nope. Character B came into that clearing and I ran for him. And I burst into tears, both in my head and in real life. I know how that sounds, but I swear, it was like seeing someone you love after they’ve been away for a while.

The first quarter or so of the book is pretty dark, and I’ve been dreading having to go back through it. Then I reminded myself that there are beautiful and funny and sexy moments in my book that I get to work through as well.

Working on this book again honestly feels like coming home, only you get to renovate and redecorate it to make it even more your own.

Note to self: You’re strong enough now to not only rewrite this first part, but to make it even better. And James is right there to hold your hand.