Ahem, “The End” and An Award

Last night, after 130 days, I finished the first draft of Beyond Shadow and Flame.  Four months for a 35,479 word novella might seem like a long time until you take into account that I wrote an entire class from scratch too during that time span.  I even finished it 5 days before my self imposed deadline at the end of January.  Woot!  And the despite the fact that the ending few paragraphs need major work (I indulged in a massive cheese fest that is not permitted to stay in revisions), I’m feeling really positive about the end of this one (as opposed to my absolute depression over the end of HiS back in September).  Unlike its predecessor, I believe this novella is a lot closer to actually finished.  Yeah, it needs revisions.  There were some major story decisions I made halfway through that I need to be sure and seed earlier in the story, and of course there are some general first drafty wrinkles that need ironing out.  But all the bones are there.  The character arcs are there.  I realistically think this could be ready to distribute by maybe April (time to get back revisions from assorted crit partners and beta readers, assimilate their feedback, format, etc.).

Today I plan to do a clean up pass before passing on to a few people.

In other news, the awesome Carrie Clevenger has nominated me for The Circle of Friends Award.  It was a lovely compliment to the day (and helped make up for my unruly stomach necessitating excesses of gingerale).  So today I shall pass on something good (instead of stomach bug germs).  I nominate:

Kerry Allen: She makes me laugh in the best possible way with her fiction.

H. C. Zuerner: Who never gives up and always maintains a positive attitude.

Myra McEntire: Who I still want to bribe to borrow that ARC of Linger. And who created The Fort. ‘Nuff said.

Shawna Thomas: Who manages to juggle 5 kids AND writing.  I am consistently amazed.  She totally can’t be old enough to have 5 kids…

Kelly of Evil Shenanigans: Who isn’t a fiction writer, but used to sing opera, and that’s darn cool.  She’s also a kick ass baker and will make you gain weight just from reading her recipes.

Ladies, you know the drill!  Copy the badge and nominate some folks!