Redrafting Rewind and an Overview of Other Work

I'm rewriting Rewind - or redrafting, revising, whatever. I don't know the correct terminology yet and I've no idea if I'm even doing it the right way, but it's working, so in the absence of any better methods, I'm going to stick to what I'm doing.

I've got it open in Scrivener and have moved the entire first draft into the notes folder. I have the editing window split, with the first draft of the scene on the right and the new draft on the left. I'm retyping everything.

I was concerned about the word count for Rewind, as it topped out at between 40-50,000 words. I can't honestly remember the final count. I've read conflicting views about whether that would constitute a novel, with some websites saying that a novel needs to be at least 50,000 words, in which case Rewind would have been a novella. Other sites, however, say that 40,000 words is the baseline for a novel. 

Either way, the rewrite is increasing the word count by around twenty-five percent. I am not deliberately adding words to pad out the scenes, that feels like it would be self-defeating. I'm looking deeper into each scene, making sure the point of view is adhered to, making sure there is enough description for the reader to know what's going on - and not be surprised by someone appearing from the left when they thought that person was on the right (I hate it when I'm reading and that happens to me). I'm looking further into emotions and character development too. All in all, I'm applying the things I learned while drafting The Cloud Collective through November.

I think I can safely say that my word count is increasing because my writing is better this time around.

More and more, just recently, I'm starting to think of myself as a writer. I'm not an author, not yet, because I don't have a finished book to point to and say, "I did that!" I am, though, a writer, at least in my own mind. I have drafted two novels now (if you count 40k as the lower limit for a novel) and I have a solid outline for a third. The Cloud Collective feels like it wants a sequel - perhaps even two. At the end of the first book I'd like our surviving visitors to learn that there are more of their kind who need to be rescued. The story of that rescue attempt would be the basis for the second book. The possible third could even involve a mass incursion by visitors which would be worldwide and very public. Imagine a cross between War of the Worlds and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The other two Cloud Collective books are just seeds at the moment, though. I'm going to concentrated on redrafting Rewind with a view to releasing that as my first novel, with The Cloud Collective to follow it up. Hopefully by the time those two are released I'll be well on the way toward finishing The Salvation of Angels.

Having three novels at various stages of production should be enough, I think, for me to be able to confidently and accurately refer to myself as a writer.

Edit: I've just realised that this would be the right time to remove the question mark from Chris Copley - Writer?