Hacky, Slashy, Poky-Poky

I've done it again.

In my headlong rush for wordcount, I've managed to set myself back by cutting large chunks of existing MS.  But all for good cause.

At the end of Chapter 7 (that bane of my existence) and beginning of Chapter 8, there was a sequence that I had bits and pieces of, but every time I tried to work on it I got bogged down.  It seemed too convoluted.  Over the past few days it's started to feel like a ball and chain.  Last time I felt like this about a plot point, it was Elspeth's wheel and kiln and I knew I needed to cut it.  So I did.

I spent tonight revising what I had of 7 to remove the element (not too much work, actually) and sliced-n-diced the extant bits from 8.  We now transition (relatively) smoothly from A&E returning to Glenstrae to find the village has been attacked by Campbells looking for her, to him hieing off to rendezvous with his father and brother at Achallader and leaving her to face the clan alone. 

All told, I cut about 1800 words.  No more Campbells returning, no English lieutenant (so much for most of the work during my all-nighter Friday), no search for the "missing prisoner" and Elspeth being put on the spot.  But the pace feels right.  And I already have more momentum.  So I'm okay with it all.

New words for the day...probably at least 1500.  But since some are replacing another extant scene and the remainder were for the new chapter 8 (I'm on chapter 7v4 and 8v3 at this point...*sigh*) my wordcount is actually now slightly lower than the meter shows.  But I should catch back up tomorrow and then I'll update it.

Writing marathon starts on the forum tomorrow.  I was crazy and said I wanted 90K by the end of it, but that was before cutting all this wordage.  We'll see where I end up.  Onward and upward.

(Postscript: the post title was taken from Hugh Robertson's demonstration at Fergus, in which he referred to the broadsword blade as the "hacky, slashy, poky-poky" part.  I enjoyed that description enough to appropriate it, and it was more fun to say than simply "slash and burn.")