You know what they say about out of the ashes, new life is formed?  Well, sometimes it’s after liberal use of the delete key.

Last week I sent the new and improved first chapter of 13 Demon Days to my readers, and waited for feedback.   I was a little nervous because I’ve never been as happy with chapter one as the rest the book, and I know that first impression is super important.

The feedback came back in: A resounding Meh.  One of my wise writing friends, Pat Esden, even suggested I cut the first chapter and give it a new go, starting a little later in the story.

I thought over what she’d said and looked at the chapter again…and had to admit Pat was probably right.  The stuff happening in the first chapter was fun, but required a lot of telling and small jumps in time due to space constraints.  Plus, it wasn’t a very good sample of what the book is about.  Rather misleading, actually.

But, last night I didn’t have the guts to chop the whole thing.  I’d just finished re-writing several thousand words of it!

Then this morning our daughter woke us with the exciting news that there was a chick in the incubator.  One brave little guinea keet, the first of the batch and a lovely little silver, had busted out of those thick guinea shells while we were sleeping.  If he’s not the cutest little thing to ever fall off the circus wagon, I don’t know what is.

 

And somehow, as I worked in the living room this morning with one eye on the incubator, I realized I could do it.

I took a deep breath, and deleted every word of chapter one.  I’m now about 2k words into the new chapter–and ready to start flapping my wings any minute.

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