Taking another pass at "Where Power Lies" this morning, and I find myself doing a lot of cutting. Extraneous stuff mostly, tags, descriptions of inconsequential things. In the back of my mind, however, is a cautionary voice telling me that slashing stuff often leads to new errors. I might delete one more word than I intend, or take out the verb which makes the sentence a sentence. Maybe after this pass, I'll finally get to the read-through where I don't need to change anything and simply correct obvious errors.
I also made the decision to remove chapter titles. I've heard from readers that they don't really pay attention to them. I've left them in for the Jack Watson books and the Faces books, and having done so in those series, I will have to keep them for any future additions. I left them out of the Windsong Lake books, but I started using them in "Where Power Lies," mainly as a tool to find passages. The titles get marked for as level 1 of an outline and I can quickly navigate within my document to something I need to find. Since I took them out this morning, I guess I'll have to find my place some other way.
As I settled into bed last night, I had an alarming thought regarding the upcoming Glen Ellyn Bookfest. I've been preparing a 60-second pitch to give to attendees for "Dabblers," but what do I do if I don't have any paperbacks of it to sell? It's supposed to have gone to press, but I don't know if there'll be time to order any copies to take with me. I'm giving some thought to prepping a pitch for "Two Faces, Two Faced." Those are already on order, and I hope they're going to be delivered any day now.
Then again, the thought of standing up in front of people to give my pitch, of any book, makes me wonder if I should do it at all. It's not a requirement, and I can think of some practical reasons beyond my own stage fright to skip it. I guess I should be prepared with one or two pitches and make a decision at the last minute.
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