It’s a spectacular feeling to get through an entire story idea.
Beginning, middle, and end, BOOM! written down.
I have many partial first drafts.
Many. It’s very drafty in here. Brrrr.
(a little writer’s humor that might be funnier if I didn’t live in frigid Northern Illinois)

I recently returned from a very successful writer’s retreat where I completed a full first draft of book three in my Kimmie Jillison Mystery series.

But a full first draft does not a finished book make.
I’ve already made a ton of edits. Mostly additions at this point, fleshing out ideas, adding details, creating whole characters. Changes are expected as the storyline evolves, which it always does. That’s a good thing! But a writer’s challenge all the same.

I don’t really keep track of how many drafts it takes; I’m not sure how to count them. Daily changes? There’re a lot of those. I mean, I’ve been working every day since I returned and I’ve yet to make it through the story in its entirety. And considering I’ll be tweaking up until I press the final “Enter”, that number seems overwhelmingly high–and particularly daunting. But only counting the number of times I make it through the whole book seems too low. I remember an author proudly stating she was ready to publish her second full draft and I thought, I wouldn’t! I have to assume she counts differently because MY second full draft will definitely not be ready for public consumption.

I won’t update you every ‘draft’, but sharing this progress affords me a bit of accountability. Now that you know to expect a new publication, I’d better deliver.

Hopefully soon . . . but trust me, not yet.
It’s still pretty chilly.

Kinder Garden, the Kimmie Jillison introductory title, and Safe Harbour, book two, are available through Amazon and Kindle. This series was inspired by the work of Terri Reid and her Mary O’Reilly Paranormal Mystery series. My title, Baker’s Dozen was part of her Kindle World.