start of second draft

The first draft of Stealing Fire is done, topping out at 132,000 words. I think I'm as happy with it as I am with any first draft, in the sense there's some good ideas in there, but this deep in you get the 'can't see the wood for the trees' effect that prevents you from gaining sufficient mental distance from the story to be sure you can be even distantly objective about its credits or failings. This distance can be achieved by the simple act of printing out the manuscript and leaving it in a desk drawer for two years before reading it again. Unfortunately, since I'm on a deadline, I don't have that luxury.

Nonetheless, I started work on the second draft/rewrite, which is proving to be fun, involving as it does some level of research. But the hard work of typing thousands of words every day, at least, is over.