Rain, which is currently called Rain of a Southern Sun, is progressing well, though slowly. I am finishing up the final rewrite on chapter 3 and am already very nearly done with the first serious rewrite of chapter 4.

Though I had hoped (planned, actually) to be finished with the final rewrite by the end of 2008, the likelihood of that happening appears remote. As I've mentioned before, I'm treating the writing of Rain (for short) as my second college. It's important to get it right, even if doing so means drawing out the process. The good news is I've finally found the tone of the story and, as a result, my rewrites have become very focused.

The downside of knowing the story better is that I'm rethinking the title of the story again. Naming the story is a proven important element to selling it. I figure I'll wait until the very end of these rewrites before I spend a lot of time nailing down the final title though.

If there's anything I've learned during this process it's that the story doesn't stop evolving until the last period of the last rewrite. Only then will I know all I need to know about the story to give it an appropriate and well-designed name.