AHIP Ready

I just finished adding new scenes, smoothing others, removing poor Ferris, and editing in general. AHIP is not ready for the world but AHIP is ready for it's first printing and to be seen by a few readers for what I like to call a content edit.

This is not the time to be checking that all the commas are in the right place. This stage of editing is for my readers to point out content issues to me, the writer. If I can't get the content right, there is no use fixing punctuation and grammar errors.

As I writer, I rely on content editors to read through my story and mark it up where the story doesn't make sense, needs work, or yes, even in some cases, where I have done a particularly good job with this scene or that. Because AHIP is almost like a baby to me, I, as the writer, have a hard time seeing all my baby's natural flaws. The content editing helps to point some of those flaws out to me.

Sometimes, the flaws become immediately apparent once a reader points a flashing neon sign at it. Other times, I don't necessarily agree but the reader's points may point to a flaw in my story in other ways.

Even after removing and smoothing some scenes, I added four additional pages to the story and I topped the 100,000 word mark. In total this first printing of AHIP will be 194 single space pages and 101,009 words.

I know that AHIP won't stay like this. I know that it needs further work. But, I am so excited to let my little story take a few small steps into the world to see how it stands up.