Word Count: Done!

I am finished with what some writers call the "down draft" (just getting it down) and another writer calls "draft zero."

It is shorter than I thought it would be and I now know two things. I will have to cut a lot of filler where I was figuring out what was going on, and now that I know what's happening there's some detail I will need to add. Overall I would guess the cutting and adding will cancel each other out and I will end up with approximately the same length, plus or minus 5k words.

I also need to do some research. I like to have the story part done first, and then do the research to back it up. I want just enough background to tell the story convincingly. The reason for this is that I really like research and can entertain myself for far too long with interesting factoids and not ever get to the, you know, actual writing part.

So now that I am "done" for this little bit, I will set novel #2 aside for the next four-six weeks. I'm going to do some reading, some research, and may revise one short story and write another. Then in April or thereabouts I will start the next draft.

I finished a half marathon on Sunday and finished this first draft on Tuesday. Not a bad week all in all, except that I am sick. I spent much of today sleeping and I think I'll get to bed early again tonight. Hopefully I'll be healthy enough to return to work tomorrow.