I’m over two thirds done. I’ve got around ten chapters left.
The end is always the worst. Starting out the ideas are fresh. If it doesn’t work, so what, it was fun to play around with. A hundred thousand words later the doubts are a little more poignant. It’d be a shame if the last few months were really just ‘practice’. Is each chapter effective? Is the story effective? Is it entertaining? I keep saying that’s a job for editing, but there’s only so much that can be salvaged. Is the story any good? We’ll see…after I finish it.
It is a cool feeling though to almost have a manuscript done. A hundred thousand words printed feels hefty no matter what font you use. There’s a sense of accomplishment in holding a brick of paper that has your own words on it.
The next few weeks will be interesting. Once I actually get the whole thing done I’m taking a few weeks off. I’ll be reading the last couple of years worth of Nebula and Hugo award winners as well as The Secret Atlas trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole. I might also pick up some more research books on future technologies for my story. Once I’ve, hopefully, mostly forgotten what I’ve written it’ll be editing time. And well, that’ll be the summer. Cheers!
