I finished Draft 1 of my secret Philly AF football romance in December 2025. I spent January and February on and off editing a draft 2. So March was the time for draft 3. For a romance, the typical word count is about 80,000 words.

Draft 3 weighed in at a formidable 125,000 words. That is, by industry standards, WAY TOO LONG for a romance. A sweeping epic fantasy. Sure. A space opera. Maybe. But not a fun romcom. When I finished draft 2 of this book, it was at 125000. That’s 50% MORE than it should have been. YIKES!

Now, I tend to be an under-writer. Which is why I also have novellas and short stories. I like a lean story. So I don’t know how we got here with a book and a half. I think I was just really in the flow state. I was really excited about this book, and there are several converging plot points. I also wanted to hit the emotional beats. There is also A LOT of great banter and flirting, which adds word count. But that’s too much.

So I went through the chapters to identify the culprits. I have been trying to max my chapters at 2,000 words to keep the pace flowing. So I could see which ones were way too long. Like, should this be two chapters? I also made a note of the page each chapter started on. I knew we needed to hit certain points by the first 50 pages and the first 100 pages. Those are pretty important inflection points on whether a reader will keep going.

I went through Draft 3 and cut 8,000 words. A good start. Then in draft 4, I cut another 7,000. So, cutting 15,000 words. The more I write, the longer I’ve been doing this, the more I realize that books are actually made in the editing process. In dialing in the narrative, making it really tight, squeezing value out of every word, every sentence, to tell it well. What is really pushing the story forward, and what is not necessary? What points did I overemphasize? What could I scale back?

My next phase is to specifically search out my filler words and cut those, which should maybe get me another 1,000 words cut. Hopefully.

Once that is done, I’m at a point where I need external feedback. I can’t see where to fix it anymore, what could be cut. Maybe even some suggestions that might pain me, but I still need that feedback. Since I have an agent, my plan is to get her a synopsis and description to pitch the book. If she thinks it might work, then she would read it, provide feedback, and we’d go on submission. However, there is a chance she might say, ” This is too Philly-specific.” Like, your market will only be Philly Football fans. Which I don’t mind. So will this book be traditionally published? Will it be self-published? I don’t know.

One way or another, and one day it will get to you. I’m not giving too many specifics because I don’t know yet, but if you think a Philly AF sports romance sounds up your alley, then be sure to subscribe here and to my newsletter. Because then you will know when it comes out.

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