Since I started this project on February 18, 2012 (according to Word anyway) coffee and whiskey have certainly helped. To give you a quick idea about Slim and The Beast's journey up until this point, it took me about two years to write a first novel (300 pages and ten drafts) to realize it was shit and move on to the second. The first draft Sim and The Beast was 300 pages (double-spaced) and 92,000 words. This latest draft, entitled "Draft #9" (in reality, including reading out loud and editing, it's probably draft #15), is 245-pages and approx. 78,000 words. A lot of the words in the latest draft didn't exist in the first, and vice versa; the hardest thing about the writing process is coming to terms with "Chapter Surgeries" and "Dead Darlings," the nagging fear that you're a failure and will never be a published writer, forever exacerbated by self-doubt and really bad sentences.

The novel isn't done yet, but it's getting close. October 1st is the projected date of reckoning for all the final edits. I've always believed that I could be a writer, but it took me four years, a shitty first novel, and a potentially decent second one to realize that. There's a great quote by Dr. J: "Being a professional is doing the things you love to do on the days you don't feel like doing them." This more or less sums up the editing process for me, but can be applied to anything. 

In any case, I just finished the latest draft and wanted to share it with you. You've been with me since the beginning of the publishing process, and you'll be hearing from me right up until the end. The poster with all your names on it will be on my wall soon enough, too. I'm talking with my cousin, an industrial designer, to make it a piece of artwork in itself so I can do justice to you, the backers.