Pen Stroke @ Noon

With the stroke of a pen (or is it keyboard?), the first book in my upcoming but as-yet-unnamed trilogy was completed around noon today. I started writing the book off-and-on last November, so it took me about six months to finish.

I'm not sure how to describe what finishing a book feels like, only that it's a mixture of relief, sadness and accomplishment with lots of surprise thrown in. It's similar to disbelief and happy elation (copping the phrase "I did it!"), accompanied by utter amazement that I was able to pull it off again. Plotting a storyline and writing a book to the very end is not something I ever take lightly or for granted. As I've learned the hard way, creative spurts are known to vanish into thin air without a moment's notice and when you least expect it.

Now comes the fun part – editing not just once but several times over - and then again and again if necessary. The book came to 140 pages (77,082 words), which is one of my shortest works when compared with the others. As I've said before, I prefer reading and writing long novels, so writing book one in the new trilogy was rather a first for me. Fun, but still a first. However, it works for the storyline. The end leaves off well, allowing me to blend into the second book in the trilogy rather seamlessly. At the moment, my loose time frame puts the finish of the second novel around Halloween.

As soon as I've finished editing, I'll give over more details about the new trilogy. I'm eyeing a release date of June 30th for the first book in Kindle and Nook formats, but making no promises.