I’m done, I think, with When The Crows Gather, Draft #6. I’ve spent hours on it these past few days. It’s ready, I believe, to try to make a go of it in the publishing world. The doubts are still there, yes; it would be nice to have had someone read it.
I dug up and read Draft #1, dated 2/23/2005. Wow. I honestly thought that was any good? How different, and yet there are many of the same lines–those favorites that I haven’t been able to cut loose. What is the difference, what made the changes in that year? Drafts #2, 3, 4 and 5–when did I work on those? I won’t look. Most likely they were done within a month following the original. I don’t think I’ve read the story since; just called up Draft #5, renamed a copy of it #6, and moved from there.
The characters, I think, have developed. The story has become more vital, more filled with conflicts piling up. The beginning? It still makes no sense to me but it remains. Because I like it.
But then, I remember: I liked Draft #1 once upon a time.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology