Last week I got a very long e-mail from my agent about the current project, which boiled down to Good stuff here, but where’s your plot? So I chopped a bunch, essentially combining the first half of chapter 1 with the last third of chapter 3, and sent off the new chapter 1. Today’s e-mail started off “Holy crap” and went on to say the new chapter was “tremendously, tremendously good.” Which means I haven’t been wasting the last 6 months. However, I am gearing myself up for a hell of a lot more chopping. I think this time next week I’ll be 25 K words in the hole, or more.
The advantage of having a professional reader who is personally invested in my work is unbelievable.
