And the Beat Goes On

The final buffing and polishing (final is an indefinite word since there’s always One More Tyop to find) is now done.   So yesterday morning, bright and early, Book II poked its head up out of the debris left over from Book I and said “So let’s get started.”  And I said “I need to clean Read More…

Done-de-done-done

NewBook is done.   Three rounds of revision, wrestled to the mat on space, time, person, place, etc. issues.  From here on out it’s nitpicking time because it’s DONE. 172,125 words, counting chapter titles, datelines (actually places, mostly), 31 chapters (may need some chapters numbered differently, that’s an editorial decision I’d take advice on.) It’s a Read More…

Stage Three Revision

Stage Three overlaps Stage Two, because–especially this time–there’s no reason to ignore 3rd level problems while reading aloud to someone from the computer screen (there is no print-out yet.)    So if I find an entire paragraph that’s now redundant (a Stage Two problem) I just delete it,  or a temporal-sequence problem,  I mark that section Read More…

Closer and Closer…

Progress is still coming and the book is still GROWING.  I didn’t ask it to grow past 150K, I swear.  But it swore back that I need another chapter of this, and two more chapters of that, and by the way I’d left an entire Very Important POV dangling. So.  Still growing.   New Stuff is Read More…

Second Revision Draft

Second revision draft is now on chapter 22.   This book, thanks to the years of not writing and brain foggy stuff, may take more than one run through the “Construction Phase” to get things right, but every thing so far is willing to be nudged in the right direction.  My metaphors for the problems are Read More…

First Revision Draft

Done. But not dusted.  The miserable tooth abscess slowed me down and tomorrow will be all dental work with two different dentists.  It’s complicated.  You do not want to hear about it. The book however runs like a fox across country…and surprised ME with its ending, which is logical, crisp, definite, and yet…makes it clear Read More…

150,000+ And Fireworks

This afternoon, a particular sentence pushed the NewBook length to the approximate, estimated length for a Paksworld book, and I went seriously giddy, made a pan of brownies, and asked R- to go get us fried chicken for supper, and ice cream to go with the brownies. Snippet here: ……………………………………………………………………………………………… “By dark, he had achieved, Read More…

The End’s In Sight: 141,000

NewBook is still accelerating, or rather trying to, since I just cannot type any faster any longer without the machine (the one that’s living on dark chocolate and junk food on top of a healthy diet just to keep the fires going) breaking down. It’s *almost* like being 30 years or more younger and able Read More…

Yeah, It’s a Book. But Is It a Series?

Current-to-the-minute (but not for long) length of NewBook is 119,243 words.   Still moving ahead strongly, though with some things that will be tightened and a few that will be cut, most likely.    It now feels like it’s more than halfway through *this* part, but not through “the whole story.”  Which means it’s definitely part of Read More…

One Hundred Thousand (and 688)

Words, that is.  NewBook hit 100,000 words yesterday morning at about 1:15 am (I was so close I couldn’t just quit and go to be, in the 98-99 thousands, could I?  No. Celebratory snippets:  1)  Camwyn’s first meeting with Aesil M’dierra For the next two turns of the glass, he was by turns surprised, alarmed, Read More…