Reading my edited novel

A few weeks back I was talking to my editor, Jo. Most of your remember I had two editors: Jo and Molly.

Jo had the biggest task of them all. She had to shuffle through the mess of draft one. She was brave and deserves a huge medal. I’m thinking a shiny one with pointy edges. Don’t ask. 

The final word count of Dempsey’s Grill was in the ballpark of 84,000. When Jo took over the first draft it was around 105,000, I think. I’m sure she could come up with the actual count.

She took all the backstories that I thought were great and removed them from the actual story I was trying to tell.When Molly came along she tightened the story and made it a faster read by removing a few things that slowed the pace.

The end result was a published novel which was my goal. But…