tomthewriter.com

Tag: editing

  • The First Words

    The first words. The first 1,800 words. The third book in my scifi trilogy has begun. I wonder how it will turn out. That should be easy. Sit down and start typing. Easy to say. Easy to type. Don’t lose track of those first thoughts. Get words on media! But… This is my third scifi…

  • Muddling By – Seventh Draft Finished

    Grammarly approves. Of course, I’d be surprised if it didn’t. The seventh draft of Muddling By has passed through Grammarly, my impersonal, unemotional, always available, sometimes confused editor. Next step, book formatting and building as I declare the text done, not perfect, but good enough – unless I want to start over and rewrite the…

  • Muddling By – Sixth Draft Finished

    Is it finished? Let me close my eyes for a few moments while I decide – and hopefully not fall asleep. (snork) Huh? Oh yeah. I guess it is done -for specific definitions of ‘it’ and ‘done’. I now, grudgingly, concede that the sixth draft of Muddling By is complete! For specific definitions of ‘complete’.…

  • Muddling By – Fifth Draft Finished

    A fifth draft? Whew. And done soon. The fourth draft was done less than a month ago. Ready to publish, right? Not right. But progress is being made. The fifth draft of Muddling By is done. And yet, what I intended to do isn’t done. Every draft hopefully pulls a manuscript one bit closer to…

  • Being A B Writer

    I wonder what grade Grammarly will give this post, probably a B. That’s good enough for me. What’s good enough for you? Every collaboration involves a negotiation about what is good enough. Are we aiming for perfection, or even expecting it? Or, are we trying to shove something out before a deadline, or so we…

  • Muddling By – Second Draft Finished

    “Ah.” And you can quote me on that. Today, April 16, 2025, I finished the second draft of my next book. Let me scroll back to see what I called it last time. Muddling By, a working title. Also known as “From Middle Class to Millionaire to (mostly) Muddling By” or “A Rollercoaster Ride Through…

  • The Messy Seventh Draft – Firewatchers Sequel

    Shut down the computer. It hadn’t been restarted in weeks. Every draft is precious enough that I keep the files open, the machine turned on, and any other tabs shunted off to other windows. The messy seventh draft is over. The computer deserves a rest. I do, too; but, it’s already mid-September and I’m running…

  • Firewatcher – The Revised Edition

    Note: My apologies. Amazon temporarily paused it. As if life wasn’t crazy enough,… In the midst of moving from my sweet home on Whidbey Island to a sweet tiny house in Port Townsend (from one art community to another – aka MyTinyExperiment.com), I tripped over a deadline.  New and improved, Firewatcher, my first sci-fi novel has been re-released. Now, with…