Moving along

I finally achieved some forward motion in *that chapter* of Quest, with just shy of 1K added today. Chapters in this book run anywhere from 7K to 10K. This chapter is currently pushing 8K, and it's not quite ready to wrap up yet, but the motives and actions are at least aimed towards the resolution.

Considering I worked around a sales rep, several customers, and a long detailed phone call, I did all right. In the last hour I peeled off another 882 words of jotting down plot points that seem like they might happen in *Shann*. There were getting to be too many of them stirring around in my head. The religion got a bit more complicated, and I discovered that I have a third country to plan out, at least on its western flank where it borders both Khairdazh and Nuumour. I also learned that more of the story is likely to take place in Khairdazh than I had thought it would earlier on. Plus there will be a lull in the storm somewhere in the middle of the book in Evdrika. More homework! (She says smiling happily...)

There's been an interesting thread lately at Forward Motion about how many words a person needs to write before they are likely to write a publishable work. The number bandied about in the profession is one million. That is in the neighborhood of eight to ten full-length novels. I'm only half way there! (grin). Probably less than half when you consider that some of mine are a tad on the short side. Or maybe more when you consider that *Heaven can Wait* has been written three times already. Of course, that's not a hard and fast rule. There have been a number of writers whose first or second books have sold and done reasonably well. And some writers, of course, will never achieve publication even on their twentieth or thirtieth novels, should they keep beating their heads on publisher's doors for that long.

Why do I mention it? It makes me think that perhaps I don't need to be too hard on myself if I can't get enthused about another pass on *Heaven can Wait* this spring. I've mentioned before that it (still!) has some major continuity issues. It's entirely possible that I'd be best off re-outlining the story and writing it again completely from scratch, without eyeing the earlier drafts for salvageable bits. And honestly, I don't have the desire to spend the time on that story. Maybe in a year or two I'll be able to come at it with a fresh outlook, but I've been pretty immersed in it, doing the three rounds from June '03 to August '04. If the story keeps coming back to mind, I'll give it another go, but for now, I'm taking it off my roster.

There, I feel better already.

A few more good days should see the end of this draft of *Quest*. Of course, tomorrow morning is shot before it starts because the sales-rep-who-talks-for-hours will be here.

And then another week or so of *False Perceptions*. I haven't received the feedback yet from Zette on the first three chapters, but I'm hoping I'll be able to push through and finish THAT first draft as well fairly soon, once my vacation time with *Quest* has rejuvenated me. And then...it will be *Shann* time.

Optimistic, aren't I? :)