Lena: Behind The Scenes

The first draft of "Lena" ended up at the 5,500 word mark I was aiming for without feeling short-charged or bloated. I'm happy with the general direction of the text, but test reads, and frankly the passing of time will surely result in edits. I'm trying to steer away from overdoing the editing process. Usually the second draft is satisfactory. I remember reading Stephen King saying as much in the Foreword of his "Just After Sunset" collection of shorts. "Lena" turned out edgier than I imagined it, but that's just fine by me, and is also my most researched text to date (includes a lot of references). Makes for a nice pairing with "Bird of Prey" which despite being quite different (thematically and style-wise) I can't stop but think of as a sister story.