Book 9 DONE

As of now, my first draft of Book Nine, Shadowstrider: Reiekooadu (yes, such a weird name is explained and highly significant) is FINISHED!!!!

Party time, Party time!!!

If it weren't 2-in-the-frickin-morning I would bring out the whiskey and celebrate. As it is, I'm celebrating by getting some well-deserved rest.

Now... on to Book Ten.... eventually... blah!

If you actually read this blog, you'll ask "Book 9? What happened to Book 7?" Yeah, that was the plan. I finished Book 6 Homefront back in August, sent it to my husband to do a quick grammar check, and he got to my lovely ending, the one I thought was so great, and went "That's it?!?!" He then proceeded to spend a dinner at Sheri's convincing me I needed to expand on two somewhat major characters who just don't get much conclusive development by the end of Book 6. So he convinced me to write a Book 7 and 8, yet to be titled. I didn't want to fuss with that while I'm in the middle of Reiekooadu, so they got skipped. I'll be writing Book 10, tentatively called Final Destinies, finish that, then go back to those two.

A little personal record, I started work on this novel in mid August (I had an outline of it since 2003, but had to finish the previous books first). That means I've been writing this for just slightly under 6 months.

The first draft clocks in at 718 pages!

718 pages in 6 months. That's a new record for me. I have NEVER written ANYTHING so furiously in my life. And I totally followed nothing of my original outline. In fact, I went so far off course, I have to scrap Book 10's outline altogether. That's normal. I hate outlines; I never follow them. They're good to get a general idea out, but I never keep to anything.

Anyway, this means I averaged 4 pages each day. Of course, I don't work on typing this every day. I spend weeks sometimes researching stupid stuff (like last week was spent researching how to tan badger pelts totally natural, without chemicals or anything, and I got into the whole lore of tanning techniques, including a concept called "braining" which, obviously, uses the brains of the animal to soften the pelt and make it shiny. Let's just say, it's a chapter you do not want to read while eating.)

I don't know when was the last time you tried writing a 4-page essay in 1 day (or if you ever tried such a thing), but that's tough work. Record speed for me. Most of my books take a few years to finish. Book 1 took me seven years (I was in school, I had no time to write). Book 3 took me two years (college, same excuse). A few years for a novel is normal. Not bloody 6 months.

If I can keep this pace, I'll have this series finished and ready to resubmit to publishers in two years. YAY!

Wait... 2 years... writing 4 pages a day... every bloody day...

GAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!