With the second top down review completed, I feel that the manuscript is ready for Team Eagle-Eye and can benefit from their surgical prowess. After implementing comments from seven people, plus two exhaustive read-throughs, the manuscript is about 2,600 words — 8 pages — lighter on a net basis than in November. Consequently, the word count meter at right reflects the current length. The cuts were positive, enhancing both narrative flow and continuity. To my knowledge, only one loose end remains untied, the cliffhanger ending, which serves a specific purpose. Unless the world ends, that plot point remains open in perpetuity.

Team Eagle-Eye might call for a bit more or less material in a few spots, and could convince me of either case. But something tells me their primary concern will center on matters of grammar, dropped words, and comma usage, with an occassional textural suggestion.

Monday I print out three copies for their review. At that point, I invest a little time on the synopsis and query letter, and pick up one of two open projects: a thirty page novel candidate, or Joey Vinny.

Going forward, I’ll focus on more general interest entries. I feel like cracking jokes again.

One more top down read/revise pass before the Team Eagle Eye hand off. Looks like Thursday or Friday is the target date, about a week behind schedule. Ah, well. One man’s delay is another’s choreographed plan.

By saving the “finicky” readers for this final pass, I hope to maximize their contributions. For instance, the less grammar glitches the gun expert encounters, the more focus he has for technical issues like weapons handling and police procedures.

However, a persistent gotcha in my writing even after all these revisions: dropped words. It’s a virtual guarantee that out of every thousand words, a crucial one exists solely in my mind — not on the page. That’s progress, though. In the early days of the manuscript the ratio was one dropped word for every one hundred, which made for interesting reading.

Dropped words are not my only problem; sometimes spelling errors take me downtown. Towards that end, here is my favorite howler from the novel:

“…and never slam ducks the big guys, then someone must be protecting them.”

There’s more to the line, but using a fragment makes the glitch more obvious. Spell Check flagged that baby AOK, as did yours truly.