Writing Stats Monday

Currently I'm actively working on three writing projects.

Project 1
I'm trying to trim as much off my monster fantasy novel as I can without actually rewriting. This involves a line by line analysis of extraneous words and any scenes that I can lift out without affecting the plot.

Before I started editing, it was 234,891 words.
Currently it's at 225,766 words.
That means I've trimmed 9,125 words. I have a lot more to go...Still, that means I was able to reach my first goal to get it shorter than The Sword of Shannara (226,755 words). The reason I chose that book was because it was the longest fantasy I knew of published by a debut author. Both versions of my final draft are also shorter than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (257,154 words). But we both know that by book five Rowling could have written anything and made a billion dollars. Phoenix being a case in point. Okay, that's a bit unfair. Phoenix was the worst Potter book, but the worst Potter book is admittedly worth a lot more than the best by most people. Still, five really could have been better.

Also worth noting that I currently have 6 rejections from agents for this novel. Any real author would laugh at such a paltry pile, so I really want some more. I hope to at least have sent to 20 agents by the end of the year (although, it doesn't necessarily have to be for this novel). The reason for this is that someone recently inspired me to think about my goals five years down the line, and I think I'd like to have at least 100 rejections five years from now (or obviously something published, but that's less controllable). To do this I ought to average at least 20 rejections a year which certainly seems doable. I'm not going to ever give up on my fantasy, but I may have to shelve it for a while, which is why all the rejections might not be for it because there are only so many agents that look worth sending to. Then I'd rather start again with a different book for a while rather than send straight to publishers. For now, anyway.

Project 2
My sister and I are collaborating on a science fiction novel. A new experience for me since I've never collaborated on a novel.

For my part of this project I have written 6,209 words.
Overall the story so far is 9,863 words.
This means that my sister has written 3,654 words. Not that it's a competition or anything...But if it was, I'd be winning!

Project 3
Around the same time that I started collaborating with my sister, I also started collaborating with a high school friend of mine on writing a novella about a zombie apocalypse through tweets.

I don't really keep stats on this project, but if you're interested, you can read it here: http://twitter.com/zombienovella/the-story