After the general activity and excitement of this past weekend, particularly the birthday celebration for my son, it seems to be somewhat anticlimactic to mention that I also managed to finish the third draft of the novel.

At this point, I can say that the majority of it works fairly well. Apart from some unavoidable contrivances, the characters are appealing, the story is interesting, and the general shape of the thing holds together for the most part.

At a deeper level, there are brief glimpses of something in the writing that fascinate me. Little echoes of style that feel very much like something new — or, at least, something new for me. None of these were written “on purpose.” I think there may actually be a good Writer in there somewhere. I can hear a new voice in certain places and I very much like how it sounds.

However, much of the prose is overwritten, sloppy, and awkward.

I’m not being self-effacing here. If anything, I’m being too kind.

Which is why I began working on the fourth draft earlier this week.

The work is moving along fairly quickly, but it’s a bit frustrating to have everything grind to a halt whenever a particularly bad passage shows up. Most of these have been relatively easy to resolve, fix, or simply cut completely . . . however there have been a few which take a fair amount of time to sort through. And, only seven chapters in, I know that there are many more coming down the road.

The fatigue factor is difficult to overcome. I find that the best way to stay focused, to not just skim along, is to read it out loud. That’s been a part of my revision process for years and it’s always a great way to find the sour notes.

It’s also time consuming. I need this to be done, but done well nonetheless.

Fortunately, there’ll be a break after this round. This current draft really is my last shot before it gets into the hands of a few readers (the literary equivalent of beta testers). Six months ago I made a list with thirty or so people on it — a few family members, some friends and acquaintances, a handful of of absolute strangers with whom I share a tenuous online connection at best.

Realistically, I expect that I’ll narrow that list down to perhaps five lucky people who are patient enough to take a shot at reading through it.

It’s a thankless job, for the most part. No golden ticket, no year’s supply of chocolate. At best, they get to read something new and have bragging rights if it turns out to be good. At worst, they can chuck it out twenty minutes into it.

I’m not looking for much in the way of feedback, just a high level, honest response: Did you like it, did you care?

Really, it’s time for someone else to read it.

But before I get there, I have to be honest with myself. It just isn’t there yet . . . but only just. This next draft should be all I need to get it past that line, hopefully well past it.

And then I can start on the next phase: Figuring out how to get it into the right hands of agents and publishers. I bet that process is not nearly as much fun as it sounds.