Well, maybe not the worst. I'm sure there are other bloggers (and I use the term loosely) who are far less reliable than me. You know, some guy or girl who hasn't made a single blog entry in well over a year. Surely, I'm not as bad as those people?
So let's talk about books.
I have done my third (yes, third) rewrite of Queen of Zazzau. It's not been an easy task. At the beginning of this year, the novel was 126000 words. I cut the first four chapters and added a shitload of physical descriptions (mostly of the background settings). It's amazing how little Westerners know of Africa. Since my target audience will, hopefully, include Westerners, I thought it important that they visualize what I am visualizing. Of course, during Revision 4 (and there will be a Revision 4), I will likely cut some of those descriptions. I pray that Revision 4 happens, after I've sold the novel.
But, I digress.
So, I cut four chapters and added details, which brings the novel to 146000 words. It was my intention to stay below 130K, so this 16K overage is somewhat distressing. Several people that have read the novel don't find the word count all that perturbing. However, I am not GRR Martin or JK Rowling. I can't write a 600 page novel with impunity.
So what does that mean?
It means that my writing had better be damned compelling. That's what it means. I'm going to update the tidbits page to include Chapters 1-3 as soon as I get this formatting crap cleared up. Blogger keeps posting with a white background. Totally uncool.
Do come back and take a look. I promise to get it done within the next seven days. I'm setting my telephone reminder now. Once I've posted the new stuff, give it a read. If you think the storytelling is boring/awful/garbage or otherwise uninteresting, do please feel free to drop me a line and crush my delusions of grandeur.
TTFN!
