It's been about three months, more-or-less, since I finished the first-draft of my Shakespeare adaption, and I suppose I really should get around to actually calling it by its new name in this here journal. All part of the service, right? If I don't actually refer to it by name, then it's less real, which doesn't entirely make sense unless I do a little more to explain.

I've been terribly, horribly paranoid about the whole process. Really, it's rather unlike me. I have absolutely no idea why I have been so completely and utterly convinced that somebody is going to steal my idea. The arrogance alone in simply just imagining such a thing really isn't worth getting into. My own little ego head and leave it at that.

Anyway, I've been paranoid, as I said. Been more than a little reluctant to describe what I've been up to. Mention the specific Shakespeare play that I've adapted or the kind-of things I've done to it as part of the adaptation. Been really very cagey. Reluctant to talk about. That kind-of thing. Silly, really.

Long ago and far away, the plan was to work on a simple adaptation and on musical vignettes. The day-job was proving to be a serious pain in the ass, devouring far more time and energy than it had any right to be consuming. Needs of the world and all of that bullshit. Keep a roof over your head. Don't starve. Yeah, yeah. Bullshit, like I said.

So, the plan was to maintain some level of a reason for living by working on projects in the evening that wouldn't leave me so devoid of life and energy that I didn't simply keel over dead. Hate that day-job, did I say that already? Anyway, the plan was that an adaptation wouldn't devour as much mental energy. Musical vignettes wouldn't leave me so drained that I wouldn't be able to function. I remember the days—nights, really—working on The Magic Flute or The Etymology of Fire where I would fall asleep with pen in hand. Whatever word or sentence on the page left half-finished. I would startle awake at some ungodly hour past midnight to discover a great big ink stain on my pillow, which would invariably make me incredibly angry.

Knew this couldn't go on. Not as young as I once was. Sure, The Magic Flute may have been written on an average of four hours of sleep per night, but those days were long past. That and the doctors I worked for at the time kept telling me that I was killing myself by keeping up that schedule. These days I average five hours a night, but that's beside the point.

Okay, the heavy lifting is done. The first draft of my adaptation of a Shakespeare play is complete. Next stage is tricky, waiting three to six months before starting to edit. Don't think I'll manage six months. I'll be lucky if I can wait three. The thing is it's important to wait. I can't spot my own typos and mistakes if I don't take a break from the text. I'll just edit in my head. The break is important. Also, I'm more likely to notice poorly written bits with a break. Just look at The Etymology of Fire, for example. I think I deleted about a third of the text in the editing stage. Probably an exaggeration. Just felt like a third of the text because I was the one doing serious damage to my own writing. Murdering lots of babies and little darlings and all of that. It was worth it, my opinion. I think Etymology of Fire really flows. Best written of the three. I know. I know. Biased. What can I say?

Anyway, the editing stage is going to be tricky for this new Shakespeare adaptation thing because there is very little text to be edited down. I mean. It's short. It's spare. It's downright minimalistic. So, there's not much that can be cut. Hopefully, the edit will mostly consist of spotting poorly done turns-of-phrase that I will be able to improve. Optimistic and all of that.

Funny thing about me and my approach to writing. I'm very much the warts-and-all type. First draft is also the last draft. Minimal editing. Editing is at the text level. Plot is locked. Chapters and scenes are locked. Characters are locked. Fix the grammar. Hunt down those typos. Fix descriptions. If something was described as on the right before, then please make sure it is always on the right. It shouldn't bounce around from left to right. Oh, unless that's actually important to the story.