The Second Draft Is Shaping Up To Have So Much More Punch

The second draft is shaping up to have so much more punch.

I've been working through revisions to create the official second draft of the novel. As I read through and compare the first and second drafts, it's apparent that the second one has so much more punch. This is precisely what I wanted. You can see so much in the first draft, but it's the revisions where the work truly begins to shine. I sent the first chapter off to a friend and gave her nearly zero information about the work.

You know, that's the thing—feedback is important. Everywhere, with everything. Alpha readers, beta readers, website testers, "what did you think of that audiobook?" or "How did this voice for Lily sound?" Gathering the information but also considering it carefully and doing something with it is essential.

What's next?

More revisions! I'm really getting into it now. It was a bit of a struggle to start and even a little daunting. I wrote a novel, and then I have to go back and revise...the whole thing? I'm now into a fun groove with revisions, though.

What's new since last week?

• I'm turning Night of the Living Cake Monsters into an audiobook! I just got back the final recording from a fantastic voice-over artist named Abigail Reno. I couldn't be more pleased with it, and I honestly don't know how Abigail got through all of the tongue twisters. I'm impressed. Episode 4 in the series is told by Lily's cat, Mr. Kennedy Cuddlesworth—and I worked with a great voice-over artist named Simon Jackson for that piece of the story. As I did a final listen-through of their recordings, I found myself getting lost in the story and all of the puns. It was very entertaining to hear it in the recorded version! I feel like I have accomplished what I set out to do: make a cool retro creature feature. I think I've done it justice. I have more work to do on the project, so I'll tackle it as I have time.
• I've been playing around with audio horror on Instagram Reels. It's a bit like flash fiction. The idea of a horror reel means I have up to one minute to tell a horrific story. So far, I'm enjoying it, and it looks like others are enjoying what I'm creating there.
• I finally settled on a few critical things I needed to correctly retell an immersive story I created several years ago. I'm now on my way to creating a set of reusable components for my website so that I can do just that.

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