Almost There

I finally figured out what the outcome of the book will be, and it took me all day. I'd try to work, have a "squirrel!" moment and get sidetracked with something else. That went on throughout the day. Then finally, I sat down to force myself to puzzle it out, and it all just came to me. I guess the subconscious needed time with me out of the way to get the job done. Now I just need to figure out how to get to that outcome from where I am now and what it will look like when I get there. I have about 2,000 words until I reach my target first draft word count, but I suspect I have a lot more than that to get to the end of the story. That may or may not happen today. I have errands to run and laundry to do and dance tonight, which somewhat limits my available writing time.

And then I think I'll go straight into revisions, since the beginning is so long ago that I can take a fresh look at it. I don't think I'm going to need to do a lot of plot rewriting, but I think I'll need to do a lot of scene crafting. I know I need to amp up the emotions because there's a lot of stuff that should be very emotional, but at the moment it's really bare-bones. This is a really complex plot, so I needed to get the framework down to see how it would work. Now I can play with it. I think the second draft is going to be a lot of fun.

It looks like the launch of book 6 was a success, as it sold rather well in its first week. It's not setting the world on fire or doing the kind of numbers you see from repurposed Twilight fan fiction with bonus sexytimes, but it's on a par with the performance of the traditionally published books in this series. If you have read it, you can help by posting reviews to the bookseller sites, Goodreads, etc., blogging and so forth. I'm still open to doing interviews or guest blogs, especially now that I'm just about well and am close to the end of a draft.

I have strong motivation to finish this book because my to-do list of things to do after the book is done is getting rather long, including getting my house back into shape after my housework routines fell apart during the bronchitis, doing a few household repairs, repainting the bathroom (following the AC installation mishap), and then there's something else I want to write that has been nagging at my brain. Not to mention enjoying fall. It's my favorite season and I want to revel in it.