Nearing the End (More on Crow)

I ended up taking a week off of writing to work on re-building my office. My office has been a giant storage closet since we moved in and it's a pretty big project - getting it sorted, putting up new shelves, filing two years worth of papers. I'm only about halfway through it, but I felt my self-appointed deadline closing around my throat, so I got back to diligently writing this week.

I'm now on the home stretch for Crow Book One. I've passed 40,000 words and foresee only perhaps 3 or 4 more chapters before it's completed. This will make the first draft around 50,000 words, which is what I anticipated. At the rate I'm going, barring any unforeseen obstacles, it should be completed by the end of the month - right on target. I'll likely take a week off to do some visual and editing research the first week of April (plus it's my daughter's birthday that week, so I'll be fairly preoccupied) and then I'll begin tackling the next draft.

I'm incredibly excited about this project and the progress I've made in the past month and a half. It's been a long time since I ran a story from start to finish like this. It gives me hope that this undertaking will succeed and I'll have it finished and publishable by June 1st, as planned.

This journey has taken longer than I had expected - but I can honestly say that I'm am the happiest now than I have been in a long, long time. I spend the majority of my free time enjoying my amazing children. If you had known me 10 years ago, you'd understand what a shocking thing that is for me to say. I've never been one to pursue the traditional route on anything. When I'm not frolicking with my munchkins, I'm creating all the time. Even when I'm not writing: I'm painting, I'm planning, I'm making things. And I think about the story all the time - on the train, in the shower, when I'm putting my kids to bed.

I can only hope to continue like this from now on.

For the rest of my life.

That's all most writers want anyway, right? To wrap themselves in their creativity and dwell there for as long as they are able?

For now, I'll take it one day at a time.

It's time to write.

Until next time,