layla | Egad and holy moley

I wrote 7000 words on the novel today. Combined with yesterday’s 3800 words … I actually have a draft of the second novel in the urban fantasy series.

It’s not exactly complete. The plot of this one has been a mess, and there are big holes where I simply summarized what was supposed to go there without actually writing it, along with large scenes (and possibly whole chapters) that are going to need to be removed, moved somewhere else, or completely rewritten from scratch.

But I finally have the end, and I think it’s a darn solid end, too. I feel good about it. I got all the characters where I want them, and the character relationships where I want them. And best of all, I’ve finally gotten down the part that I was having the most trouble with: the final battle. It might not be easy getting everything to fall into place from here, but I have an ending I like, and that’s a big thing.

I’ve been doing little else but thinking about the novel 24/7 for the last week and a half. There are lots of interesting posts that crossed my radar that I wanted to respond to, link to, or otherwise acknowledge, but I simply didn’t have the brainpower to write anything that wasn’t part of the novel, at least if it required actual thought. It’s been an interesting week, because aside from that one (refreshing) trip to Ellen’s, I’ve been camped at the computer, working obsessively on the novel or else staring at the screen in a braindead fugue. (Or reading. I can’t always read novels while I’m in a major frontburner writing state, but for some reason it worked just fine this time. Possibly because I’ve been either reading books in well-established series where I already know the characters, or books that are so awful I needn’t bother remembering anything that happens in them. I need to post about the one I’m reading right now, because it is hilariously horrible. I keep reading bits to Orion, and he keeps asking me why on earth am I still reading it? Mostly because I want to see how bad it can get, I must admit. And the answer is “very bad indeed”.)

But I’m already so far ahead of where I wanted to be this year that I’m kind of mind-boggled. I had blocked off January and February to finish final edits on Book 1, submit it to agents, and finish writing Book 2. Even though I’m not yet what I want to call finished with Book 2 (and I haven’t even finished my query letter for Book 1 yet) I’m so close that I think it’s pretty obvious I can be where I wanted to be by the beginning of February rather than the end. Which means I can move up my year’s schedule by a month (yes, I have a creative schedule for the whole year; I never seem to stick to them, but I’ve been making them for a few years now), and turn my attention to short stories, art, and other things that have been getting the short end of the stick lately.

… First and foremost, watercolor cards! I really do intend to get back to those, and get the website set up for sales. It’s amazing how few spare processor cycles I’ve had available lately. The novel really has been consuming nearly every ounce of my available brainspace.

I think one of the reasons I feel so good about this is because one of my (unwritten) creative goals for this year is to be more serious and professional about this creative career thing, and not go skiving off for weeks, surfing the ‘net and watching TV and writing fanfic. And I have been doing that. I have been damn professional this January, I’ll have you know. *g* I have been working my ass off, and getting a whole lot done. I know from past experience that I can burn out very easily when I really go at it 24/7 like this (ask me about the time I did a whole issue of Raven’s Children in two weeks while I was working a full-time job … or better yet, don’t *g*) but I don’t feel like I’m courting burnout at all. I’m energized and excited and really having a lot of fun.

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