Just a Little Late…

Okay, months late!  But I’m relieved to announce that I finally finished the first draft of The Bloodgate Warrior today!  Just under 39K.

I knew I was getting close.  I didn’t expect more than a couple of thousand words to get there, but I kept getting hung up.  Weeks ago, these scenes rolled through my mind like a movie.  Now, unfortunately, they were a slow choppy crawl clouded in dust.  I should have written the climax weeks ago when I knew exactly how I wanted it to go.  Instead, I had to suffer sentence by sentence, feeling my way through the fog.

My big hold up:  according to my spreadsheet, the final climax occurred in the cenote at Chick’en Itza.  Yes, IN the cenote.  But when it came time for that final battle to play out, I couldn’t figure out how Tecun ended up in the cenote.  Why would he willingly jump in there, if Cassie wasn’t down there?  (And she wasn’t)

I did a little catch up for the Evil Day Job today while working on laundry, and then as a reward, I switched to Tecun.  I was determined to finish.  Finally, I got him into the cenote…and then the rest came tumbling after.  *whew*

It needs so much work I’m almost reluctant to even call it “finished.”  The last 10K is really choppy.  It just took me too darned long to finish, so I couldn’t remember little plot points that had been so clear in my head before.  I’m sad to say I was even struggling to remember secondary character names.  Groans.  I’ve still got to figure out a few things too, and I need to do a little research too.  But the biggest hurdle is DONE.

Done, done, done.  Happy, happy, happy.

Now to rest up my hands…

So I can begin the first draft of Phantom while I let Tecun ripen a little before revisions.

P.S. I have a GORGEOUS cover to share with you soon for Golden.  Also we’re very close to finishing up the cover for Return and it’s going to be awesome too!