Yes, we’ve reached the hack and slash part of the game, where I wade through the MS and am merciless with the cut-and-paste-into-a-Deleted-Materials-file sequence of mouse clicks. Get rid of those useless paragraphs and those vague thoughts! Make room for the rituals and meditations that exist only in the [insert ritual here] sense! And since I’m also at the low self-esteem I-hate-myself-my-writing-is-awful point of the process (right on schedule, I must add), cutting things out to make it as focused as possible isn’t being hindred by any sense of maudlin attachment.

This is where I stop counting words. The final count will be what it is when the dust settles mid next week.