Well, I’m at it again! I can’t seem to help but set up challenges for myself, when it comes to my writing, and the second draft of The Broken God Machine is no exception. I’ve set myself a very aggressive number for this one, for two reasons: first, TBGM is arguably the most complete first draft I’ve ever written; it came out of my brain in a state I’m really happy with, and even features solid foreshadowing and a little bit of symbolism right from the get-go. Second, the simple fact is that second drafts are much faster and easier than first drafts. You’re not trying to figure out what happens anymore, you’re just trying to figure out the best way to present it.

Sure, there’s more than just sentence cleanup involved — there’s a middle chapter of the book that I plan on excising in its entirety and replacing with something else, and there are chunks of description and dialog that need rethinking, not just rewording. That’s fine, though, because for much of the book I can crank through the words like crazy, cleaning and prettying and clarifying without having to engage in structural work.

Therefor, I’ve set my goal at 2,500 words a day. That would be an aggressive number even for many writers for whom their work is their full-time job. Considering that I’m rarely able to even start in on it until 9 PM or so, it’s even more difficult. Still, my first night of the challenge, last night, showed that it’s very doable; I wrote more than 3,800 words!

I’ll be posting regular status updates here, and of course tweeting and facebooking about it. Swing by and cheer me on!