Thursday Notes: #17
And the Novel Is… “Done”!
I hit 50,000 words on Orcas Investigation today! (52,046, to be precise; or 51,793 according to the NaNoWriMo counter.) And got my “winner” certificate and the laudatory emails and put stickers on my Progress Tracker and all that.
Of course the book is not done, or even “done”…I’ll write a few more words, and add a bunch of notes, before flinging it in the general direction of my patient co-author.
It’s a good time to hand this book off. I’ve so enjoyed working on it, getting back into the flow of writing regularly–daily, mostly, except for (ahem) that entire week of Thanksgiving when I barely looked at this keyboard, for any reason. Other than that, though, I’ve pushed really hard to get my word count. That was stimulating and inspiring, to a very great degree; now, however, I feel like I’ve wandered off into the weeds a bit. An excellent time to bring in a fresh brain. (And people wonder why I love to collaborate. Wouldn’t YOU love to be able to bring in a fresh brain whenever you get lost?)
So…what’s next?
I’m glad you asked! Next is I will be digging out all the files and notes for A Sword in The Sun, book two of my Nightcraft Quartet. I’m both excited and nervous to dive into this project again…it’s the sequel to The Queen and The Tower, and all four books are the project of my heart, the story I’ve been working on for so, so long…stopping and restarting, rethinking, honing, re-envisioning…you know.
But Q&T is out now, so the path is before me. I have a strong sense of the overarching arc of the four-book story, and a big chunk of this book (maybe the first third) is already written–though it needs revisions–but I will admit to you, my faithful friends, that the details, of this book particularly, are…vague, in my mind.
I know that they will come clear when I dive back into this world. And in fact, that’s part of the excitement: I look forward to discovering what I find there. What my undermind already knows, that my conscious brain has no idea about yet.
Alas, no collaborator on this one (though I have many smart and generous first readers–including my Orcas series collaborator, so I’m not THAT worried). But I have to dig deeper here, to get it right. To find the story.
I’m giving myself more than thirty days for this one.
______________
In other news, wish Mark a happy birthday! And enjoy this picture of him (and me), taken at my dear collaborator’s wedding a few weeks ago. (Happy almost-one-month anniversary, Karen!)
