At 86k words into this novel, it has become extremely clear that I’ve been flat out lying to myself all week as I promised, “Oh, it’s almost done, only a few more words; it can’t be MUCH longer than 80k.”
I seem to have a formula for how I like to end novels…
First, minds blend together, allowing for enlightenment.
Then, everyone gets gifts.
So… basically, the climax of Dark City, followed by the denouement of Sneakers.
At just shy of 90k, I finished a full draft of my space opera novel!!!!!
Either one day late or a month early, depending on which made-up deadline I count from…
FULL DRAFT AT 89554!
That took just over 5 months. Not bad. Now, I take a month off (maybe), and do it over again.
And by “a month off,” I mean work on a different novel for a different publisher, but one that’s already mostly written and just needs some fleshing out.
We’ve gone out to a restaurant to celebrate that I finished writing my novel, and the six-year-old is too busy to eat his chicken fingers, because he brought along paper and is writing his own book about Spider-Man.