The big news this week is that I finally inked a deal with a developmental editor for my novel. I don’t have details yet on when she’ll get to it or when I should expect her report, but I’ll def have that info for you next week. All I can tell you right now is that I’m feeling very good about my decision to go with her, and I’m excited to see what what kind of notes she’ll have for me as I move ahead with the next draft of Questionable Characters.

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to make sure my draft was under 100,000 words, and this past week I got the manuscript down to 99,813 words. After addressing all the notes I’ll get from the editor, it would be nice to get down to 90K words (or fewer).

Besides all the slicing and dicing I was doing, I also chopped up some of my extra-long chapters, and renumbered them so the numbers are actually sequential again (they got out of whack when I moved things around).

Speaking of chapters, aside from numbering them, I’ve also given each chapter a name that relates to the story. I’d love to know what you think about this idea. Do you like books that have chapter names, or would you suggest I just stick with numbers only?

But enough about the novel. Instead of 99,813 words, let’s get to the Story of the Week where we’ll see what I can do with just 101 words, based on a prompt provided by improv superstar Edward Hefter.

       Stuck in the Dating Daze

“You look terrible,” Barry said to his pal, Jimmy.

“Single life sucks,” Jimmy said. “Way too complicated. I missed a date with this girl named Wednesday.”

“Her name is Wednesday?”

“Yeah. Like the Addams Family. I was meeting Wednesday at Fridays, but I also had a date Friday with Judy at Ruby Tuesday. Judy canceled dinner and proposed meeting for a sundae on Saturday.”

“So you missed Wednesday at Fridays. At least you had sundaes on Saturday,” Barry said.

Jimmy sighed.“I need a scheduling assistant. Maybe I can hire one of your sisters.”

“Which one,” Barry asked. “April or June?”

Prompt: Right place, wrong time

Finally, this Saturday (4/27) is National Independent Bookstore Day. Unlike last year, where I circled the bay, appearing at bookstores in Morgan Hill, San Jose, and Pleasanton, this time I’m only going to be in Morgan Hill, at Booksmart, 421 Vineyard Town Center, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. If you’re in the area, feel free to stop by and watch me kissing books and selling babies.

As always, thanks for listening!

Scotty out