Sounds fun

Osiris is funny, and speaks with a British accent. Oy.

Anyways, 632 words today, putting me at 96,700 words now.

So one of my favorite people in the world is finally back in the States, after about 3 months in China. Since she's going back to Chicago in a couple of weeks, and I haven't seen her since January, I'll be taking some time to go hang out with her.

So my progress may be a little sporadic.

A major plot-point fixed and untangled, leading to more tangles to resolve. so my word count is only at 98,000, instead of the 100,000 I was hoping for. But I'm happier with the way it looks right now.

98,606 words.

It's fun to track how much my writing is still improving. Quite apparent actually.

100,109 words edited.

40,000 to go.

I set up WordPress and LinkedIn accounts today. I can't promise regular updates, but I'll try.

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103,400 words.

Ok, ok, 90% of that was copy/paste from the old manuscript. It feels good to have a scene that didn't have to be rewritten completely.

ooooh a blogger!

Just don't let it take the place of your real writing. Please.

You're too good to squander your time with that stuff. Self-promotion is an important piece of the puzzle though.

I've added you to my "Fellow Writers" list, so you should start getting some traffic. I get over 2000 visits a month now and it's climbing daily. many of them will wander your way.

I actually hate blogging, the only reason it is up there is for the self-promotion. Thanks for adding me!

No worries about it taking the place of work. None.

A typo on the very first post is a bad thing.

Quick, go fix it.

"It's"

Argh, thanks. I was trying to get something typed out real fast before I went to bed. Oops.

106,073 words.

108,000. I was able to add in one of the larger, more cohesive scenes here. The old draft only has 35,000 words left in it.

Wow, almost done then. How much work do you have left after this?

Btw, I loved reading about your inspiration for the book(s) on your blog. Quite interesting

Thank you Elanor! I should be posting a brief synopsis of the book tonight, since I haven't posted for a few days.

My target word count for this phase is 150,000, to give me room to slash about 10,000 words as necessary. Obviously, if I only get 140,000, I'll just have a shorter book, so it's more about content now and less about word count.

I'm into the most intricate and mentally-challenging portion of the story now, and moving more slowly to try and get it right.

112,500 words

Very good tid bit you gave us on your blog about the book. I loved reading it, keep up the good work, you will be soon rewarded for your efforts and join Fifth and Shadow as they strive to become the new generation of the Greats. Of which I truly believe your place as theirs is assured.

I guess in short I believe that the new generation of the Greats of Writing will be born here and I look forward to the ride.

Tweaked and tightened the introduction considerably, lost almost 1000 words on it, but it looks awesome now.

Revised word count: 113,500
Total word count: 143,700

118,600 words

I'm winding up to the high-point now, the battles and all that crap. Although I'm considering cutting the book off sooner than planned, and having the wars take place later. Hmmm...

No forward progress today, deleted as much as I wrote. I've got to figure out some fine details, and so I took a mini-holiday and went off to play with horror. The results are on my blog, and I'm moderately happy with them.

So I forced myself to take 3 days off, get my head out of the story, and take a break from writing in general. It was lovely. It also had me impatient to resume work.

The result of my vacation is a new word-count of 120,400, a better attitude and more optimism, clearer voice, and a higher standard.

I need more vacations.

127,000. 17,000 left. At the rate I'm going, I intend to be done with this BY October.

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since I updated this.

I hit 130,000 words a couple of days ago, before my useless part of the week hit, 4 days right now where I couldn't do anything. I'll be changing that once I start on the next book, for sure!

As of today, 131,300. I'm letting the progress be slow. I don't want to rush the finale. And, in a leap of faith, I've given work the notice of reduced hours. For the next two months, I'll only be working 4 days a week. I can see the finish line! The last few lines are going to be emotional...

I imagine they will be, but oooohhhh the satisfaction factor! Waiting to give you a big pat on the back....

I cannot wait to see a glimpse of it Mornara!

Awww, you guys are awesome! Thank you!

So I just began setting up my first batch of agent inquiries. I'm printing off pages for each prospective agent where I can make notes, highlight pertinent information, and keep track of such things as may crop up. I'll begin drafting a query in about a week to two weeks, so that I can fine-tune it for a while.

I'll post an entry on my blog about this later, in more depth.

135,000 words.

I am going to try and finish tomorrow, because Saturday will be a "dead" day for me, no time to write before work.

You wear those 135k words well. They look good on you.

Now it's time for the hard pep talk:

You and I both have to remember that failure is highly likely. Breaking into this industry is brutal. What you've done (and what I've done) is a necessary step along that road to success. The willingness to keep your eye on a dream even when the chips are down. The determination to try again if things don't work out with this book... Will you walk a thousand miles over broken glass to get what you want?

The real question to ask yourself, is whether you have the strength and determination to keep writing EVEN IN THE FACE OF FAILURE.

Do you?

( I certainly hope so, because I don't want to be out here alone... )

*grins* You could allow me a couple of days to bask in the glory of a finished story, which by the way, won't be until at least tomorrow night. I have to wrap it up.

And I've already walked a hundred miles over broken glass for this. I don't actually write for publication, I write because I'm a writer, and can't stop. So scootch over old man, and prepare for company. The Witch is in the house!

But, then again, I fully expect the world to absolutely fall at my beautiful feet and beg me to write another book YESTERDAY!