At right around midnight on the evening of Sunday, January 13th, 2008, I put the finishing touches on the first draft of The Real-Life Adventures of AgileMan (Lessons Learned in Going Agile). While I still expect it to change greatly in the process of revising it, I can happily report the following statistics related to that initial draft:
Word count = just over 47,000 (very close to my target of 50,000)
'Chapter' total = 32 (I had expected to be in the 40 - 50 range, but it just didn't need that many sections, as it turned out)
Parts of it are still terrible, while others are lovely, and many are just so-so. My next pass, which shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to complete, will involve reading it through, top to bottom, with an eye toward improving the flow. After that, I have a couple of exercises in mind that should help address some weaknesses in the areas of consistency and repetition. I also have a crazy idea about producing some drawings for it but that may fall by the wayside and be filed under the category of "Too Ambitious."
And then I'll begin looking for a few brave souls to inflict it upon, in order to get some feedback on just how far from readable it still is at that point. Such is the life of the writer. (Hah! I almost managed to type that without laughing!)
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4 comments:
Congratulations!! A big accomplishment, indeed.
Two quick thoughts, is it possible to cut down the number of chapters at all? 32, though lower than 40 or 50, might seem pretty intimidating to the average reader (at least this one!). Also, I highly encourage drawings. Especially if they're humorous. Fun!
Good to see that goading still works!
:)
Matt - yes - congrats.
Happy to be a draft reader if you need it
- T
Now if we could just get you writing fiction all would be good!
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