Sing On, Maine United!

Earlier this week, I finished a final working draft of Sing On, Maine United! My editor-friend, Kate Kennedy, conducted a full manuscript read-through in hard copy and sent back the manuscript with comments throughout. I also sent the opening pages to a former student, now writer, Daren Worcester, and asked for feedback on the back and forth in the opening 30 pages. He said what I knew, I needed to trim. 

Now, the book is out to several beta readers as I search for publishers and agents. I approached another former student, now writer and editor, Meika Hashimoto, for advice on young adult publishing and agenting a book. She gave me a slew of information and shared a picture of Kiko, her first child! Congratulations, Meika! 

During this final revision, I cut out 2000 words from the first 30 pages. Throughout the rest of the book, I cut another 20+ pages bringing the word count to 66,745 words. The main point of my revision work has been to tighten the action to maintain the forward motion.  The other issue: from beginning to end, the story has changed. Once focused on a single character, now the story is more about a team. Who knows, maybe more revision work is about to come. We wait for reports from beta readers.