Draft End

Facebook and Twitter people already know that I finished the second draft of Firebird 4 on Friday. I probably should have announced that via the blog as well but I was so exhausted I pretty much shut down for an entire weekend. Literally--I did nothing. 

The book tops out at 146,071 words. 5600 of them were written on Friday. By the time I typed the last word my wrists, elbows, and shoulders were telling me they were also done. 

Before you get too excited and think Firebird 4 is coming out next week, you should know it still needs one more pass before I can release to betas and editors. Too much has changed from the original and I need to make sure the edits I made actually work. Not to mention, my ending needs another run. As epic as it is, I was flying through the narrative for the last 10,000 or so. There are a few things that need to be fleshed out. 

After the third pass, it'll be out of my hands and off to betas and the editor. 

For now, I'm resisting the urge to dive back in immediately and start working. Sometimes rest is needed no matter how much your mind is screaming that this needs to be done NOW!

That means today (and possibly tomorrow) will be spent on admin tasks. Maybe I'll figure out the title so I can contact the cover designer. Definitely need to contact the editor and get that set up. 

It seems even when a draft is done there is so much to do.