There is a 5,000 word limit for this story, and I managed to finish with 3,750 words. Cool. Usually, I struggle to stay within the limit.

The story itself is good, however, I have already decided to change some details. The MC’s son (and a group of other kids) will become two years older, it will help with what happens near the end, because right now I don’t find the scene believable as the children are too young.

Also, I feel like I’ve broken a promise. The MC was given a dagger, but she doesn’t use it. I think she should. What’s the point of showing her receive the weapon, if she isn’t going to use it? How it is now, I may as well take the dagger out of the story.

To meet the deadline for the competition I’m entering, I have to have this story edited, polished, and ready to be posted on Monday 30 January - which is a little over a week.

My plan of action is to read through the entire story on-screen tonight, and make minute changes. I’ll try to fix (smooth out) the ending a little too. Then…tomorrow, I’ll print the story out and on Sunday I’ll read through the hard copy. Stories always look and feel different on paper. I’ll try to work out where I have to put the extra scene using the dagger, and will probably hand write that scene. When I’ve finished the editing, I’ll return to the laptop and will transfer the changes. Another printout, another read through, and probably more errors to be fixed. I’ll repeat this process until there are no errors.

Filed under: My Writing:, Other Projects