A is for Antepenultimate

A to Z Blog Challenge -- Day 1 A is for Antepenultimate

 Into the Tunnel

by DragonWolfACe 

My Antepenultimate Re-Write

 

     I thought I was done. I sent my manuscript to my editor. I knew I'd have a re-write when she finished with it. There'd be grammatical errors, errors of continuity, conceptual errors, and errors I didn't even imagine. But I am a writer. I can fix them.

     This was to be my final re-write before sending it to my beta readers. When they finish with it, I might need to polish it a bit, then send it to press. That shouldn't take long. Right? And I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

      At some point I understood that there'd have to be one more re-write before I could send it out. I would read the whole story in its edited form and do whatever re-writing it needs. That light at the end of the tunnel was a bit farther away than I'd thought. But I've been writing it this long, a little longer will make improvements that make it worth doing. So this was my penultimate re-write.

      Penultimate is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as the next to the last.

     Then my editor dropped a bomb, "but you have to add three more scenes including a completely new final scene." But my final scene is perfect. I love my final scene just as it is. And that light is around the curve in the tunnel. And I can't tell how far away.

      "Kill your darlings," she says.

      That tunnel's floor is rutted and the walls are jagged. My way is not smooth or short. Well, damn.

      Words are my life. So, this is my antepenultimate re-write. Antepenultimate is defined as coming before the next to the last.

      Wish me luck.