The fire rises!

Not exactly sure what happened over the last week, but a fire has been lit and I have been writing like a mad man. I love it. Any chance I have had to open up my work at home or at school I have taken full advantage of, and the story marches ever onward. Should I be grading.... yes... possibly... who asked that anyways? Silence!

Last time I shared my progress I had a little over 40,000 words written. Today, I finished another first draft of a chapter and added up my totals, I'm about 3k words away from 60,000. Woo hoo! My original goal was to finish the story in about 100,000 words but I have a feeling it will surpass that. I am super excited, I just don't want it to get too long. The newest chapter puts the count to fourteen plus a prologue. I was hoping to have about thirty chapters total.

I also found my notebook and I have been using that a good deal more. Notes are easy to write with a baby sleeping on my chest. She just likes to sleep for a long, long time. On your chest though, not in a crib. God forbid.

I have introduced three new characters to the story and I enjoy them very much. The story has found a new locale as well and I have enjoyed doing the research on this exotic location. Not exactly a place I'd like to visit first hand, but you never know. Contagious life threatening diseases are just not my cup of tea at the moment. Back in middle school, when I read Hot Zone, yeah I was intrigued but it has worn off.

The climax of the story has been elusive and what little I had notes for has shifted about into ideas that I did not like, but I am fairly certain that I now know where I am ultimately going. I'm not a huge fan of books that require a series but this story will. Three books should do the trick though. I am very excited to see what readers will think.

Lastly, I still have one Robbie chapter to go back and re-write. Its been hard though, I have had a lot of ideas flowing and I like moving forward with the story, going back seems a little like a chore. I'd like to update Robbie's chapter soon though so I can share the entire manuscript with a friend who has offered their services to the cause.

I just finished reading one of my favorite Sci-Fi series of late. The Reckoners, by Brandon Sanderson was wrapped up not long ago in the third book titled Calamity. I loved it. The humor, the action, and the ending all lived up to his usual standards. This series qualifies as Young Adult, so it is not as intense as Elantris or The Way of Kings but it told a wonderful story nonetheless. I have been disappointed with so many young adult series over the last few years. The first novel usually starts out strong but then the remainder fall flat. However, most are now movies, so what do I know?

I have pretty much devoured all of Sanderson's books in the last year or so after I found Mistborn. I highly recommend him if you are a sci-fi/fantasy fan. You will not be disappointed. His books are big and can be intimidating to the uninitiated but they are worth every page. I only hope I can be as talented as this man someday.

That's about it for today. As always thanks for reading!

Peace!