I’m still waiting to hear back on, well — all of my stories. The latest ones were submitted in the middle of June, so I should start getting some sort of pop back anytime soon. In the meantime, editing continues on The Tyrant Stratagem.

I’m not even sure this revision is necessary, since the draft being shopped around at the moment was the fifth draft of the original, but the bottom line is after a near-miss with an agent, I had a first reader go through it and leave some comments.

And I am compelled to give those comments a chance.

It does produce some nasty existential anxiety: “Is this really worth worrying about?” “This feels so good right here — do I have to remove it?” “If I relocate this chunk of prose, is it going to screw up the pacing?”. In my opinion, it is far easier to write a damned novel than it is to edit it, specifically because of these kinds of questions. Add in the feedback of a trusted first-reader and you can really find yourself second-guessing your efforts.

There is always the strong chance, too, that an agent or editor will have ideas or requirements to revise further, and those will have to be addressed. Then I’ll second-guess the piece for eternity. A novel, my friends — really, any work of text — is never truly finished. We just reach an ideal exit point.

I carry forth, though. As long as this all pays off with a published novel under my belt one day, it is fine by me.

Stay tuned.