Revisions Update: The Wee Hours

Out of Fourteen and into Fifteen!  I'd hoped to be farther along than this by now, but it bears pointing out that these are the chapters formally known as "Sixteen" and "Seventeen" - through revision, reordering, and general tightening, I've lost two.  There are 32 plus the epilogue at the moment, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that drop to 30 or so by the time all is said and done.

Amazing how right now I think nothing of pulling thousands of words - what might have been a week or month's worth of work.  But I'm shooting for around the 95K mark, still a more than respectable wordcount, and that leaves me the luxury of cutting nonessentials.

Chapter Thirteen took a lot of work and most of the day, as cutting the measles scene meant reworking the entire end of that chapter and adding in a whole new section wherein Alec takes a beating for his "careless" rescue of Elspeth from Ormelie at Kilchurn.  Fourteen is Andrew's wedding and the following ceilidh...where we learn just how good Alec is with his fingers (he's a fiddle player, you perverts! *w*) and the result of his father's ultimatum.

I wanted to get through Fifteen tonight, but I really need to take a step back and decide how to handle the next part of the story.  Elspeth's just found out about Alec's betrothal to Janet Cameron.  Fifteen as it stands is her initial reaction (likely to stay) and then a long heart-to-heart between her and Alec that I'm just not sure about.  I need to add in a conversation (blocked out but not fully written) between Alec and Hugh about what to do with Elspeth once Alec's married, and bring Janet to the Tigh Mor as an actual secondary character.

In other (slightly) related news, I am apparently becoming nocturnal.  I seem to have developed a penchant for Diana's writing pattern: doze off for a bit in the evening, wake up late while everyone else is asleep to write, then crawl in bed for another few hours before morning.  The past few days, my best work has been done between midnight and 4 am, and despite spending all day at the computer, nothing compares to these hours for productivity.  Unfortunately, I don't have Diana's (hard earned!) luxury of sleeping in - I usually have to be at work by 8 am, and even though I'm taking off tomorrow and Tuesday while DH is away, Little Boy still has to get to preschool.

In other other (completely unrelated) news, I broke down and bought the second purse.  Merry Christmas to me.  *g*

Finally - if you're just that desperate to see what I'm up to at any given point, come join me on Twitter.  Yes, I gave in.