Second Draft Done! (finalllllyyyyyy)

Sunday Writing Journal - May 24th, 2026

Canadian spring is wild. We had a day of 30 degree heat, followed by a 4 degree day of rain. 

It’s been a weird week. 

But hey! Let’s talk about it. 

(I’m almost too good at transitions…)

Writing Update

This week was so focused on editing that I named the whole weekly journal after it.

I pushed myself to the very brink. Well, not really. That makes it sound like I did something incredible and not just pushed myself to finally sit down and finish the editing process. 

Book two of my Jimmy James series clocked in at almost 90,000 words at the end of my first draft. And it was messy. So messy I’ve been aggressively changing the way I write first drafts. (I try to plot a little more now.)

You can imagine how difficult it made the second draft. There were plot holes, characters going missing, things changing names, entire plot lines that just disappeared. 

I ended up cutting over 10,000 words and finally wrangled all the characters into one story. It could still use some trimming but all of the pieces are in place.

I’m hoping to get the third and final draft done over the next month and release shortly after that. 

In an effort to break up my editing monotony, I started to play around with a new story. Pirates! Time Travel! Shenanigans! It’s been way too much fun. So fun I’ve been using it as a reward to get my editing goals done.

Life Update

Ahh, life!

I don’t have a ton to talk about this week. I went to work, worked, came home, tried to avoid the rain, edited. More editing. Editing! Normal week.

I am going to Ottawa this upcoming weekend for the women’s run which I am very excited about. (I hope there’s still a few tulips around!)

In reading, I’ve been continuing to work through Fonda Lee’s The Last Contract of Isako. It’s pretty good. I don’t think any book would live up to the Green Bone saga. But I’ve been enjoying it. 

I’ve also been watching Ghosts with Rose McIver. What a great sitcom. 

Writing Exercise

This week I wanted to do something a little silly. 

I saw this exercise on Twitter way back in the day. It was a comic book writer who would start his day by writing 5 villain names for a comic book.

They should be snappy, alliteration is a must, and extra points if they make you dislike them from name only. (Snape comes to mind.)

William Wily

Christoph Curl

Henry Hoggmen

Michael Montcalm

Thomas Tart

Something about Christoph. It reeks of evil!

I’m also noticing I leaned into long first name, shorter last name. I don’t know why but it feels off. Evil!

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Shorter entry this week. 

I feel like I haven’t been doing anything other than editing. We’re almost there!

Thanks for reading.