Finally finished the first draft! I’d been putting it off, not wanting it to end, knowing that Samuel, Lou Dan and Ciss would be parting company in various ways. That along with family duties, scrimshaw, work, etc.
The novella ballooned from my target of 42,000 words to 54,322 before edits. I pushed the NaNoWriMo meter up to the default 50,000 words, and I’m still beyond it by 9%.
So what now? Time to print it out, double spaced and put it in the drawer. It actually feels good finally; it’s been a long haul. It also means a decision: should I pick up and start writing the next in the series timeline or step back to the badger’s beginnings to tell of Samuel’s childhood and youth? I have three more books sketched out with a possible fourth in the series. I think a break and some consulting with “Chuck” are in order, wherever she is. Last time she was caretaking a mansion donning a full mohawk. Now? Who knows. About nine emails and a few more skype or facetime messages in rapid succession may tease her out again, she’s been awfully quiet.
Another thing that spurred me on was an email from someone on Librarything (librarything.com). They kindly mentioned they were still waiting for their copy of Samuel’s first adventure. Oops! I had bookmarked the site and gone back there after the contest and didn’t find the area where people would have responded, figuring there were other books people were more interested in and shrugged, carrying on with writing his next adventure, going on my own and didn’t give it another thought. As it turns out there are ten people patiently waiting to read Samuel’s adventure in The Meadow. With books on their way here for a short stop before reaching their final destination, I’ve written them to reassure them they have not been forgotten.