I was so damn proud of myself after slamming out 15,000 extra words last weekend, but some of what I wrote was really bothering me. I try very hard when I’m working through a draft not to go back and edit myself until I’m through, because it slows me down second-guessing myself, but this time…

It just wasn’t working. It felt….off.

So I sat there in my car talking it all through, brainstorming, having conversations between characters on my commute home from work (a preferred method for me) when my mind said “Wait! What if this happened?”

And that thought led to another and another and another….and I realized this was good. This was really, really good. A good direction to go.

But it comes at a price. That price is nearly 10,000 words. Some I have to lose altogether. Some I’ll have to retool, working those conversations in through some other segue that remains to be fleshed out. But it’s a heavy blow. Especially with a deadline looming.

I do feel better about it, and that says it all.

Even if I’m bleeding a little.

Or a lot.