Not quite regularly scheduled posting but pretty close.  I’m still pretty afraid of shopping areas with it being the weekend after Christmas and all but I’m thinking tomorrow on the bit of research I need for the post.  Or I’m sure the Barnes and Noble website could help me out but I’m more concerned with what’s on the shelf.

Anyway, yesterday I completed the first draft of Earth Shatterer, my NaNo-written novel.  I had even less to finish than I thought and it came in at just over 55,000 words.  It’s a little scant when it comes to editing wiggle room but my idea for this story was much more concise, not to mention it was my second book.  And if you’re thinking, “well why didn’t you just finish it in November,” to that I say bite me.  An extra 5,000 words and I would have been in a straight jacket.

Since Diamond Crier was my first, I did a lot of experimenting with my writing, spent four and a half chapters alone finding the voice and the rest of the book figuring out where it was going to go.  Well, not that so much but allowing it to blossom far beyond what the original intention was.  With 83,000 words on that one, I have a lot hacking to do and a bigger deal in trying to figure out what goes and what stays.

Earth Shatterer was much more concise.  It was pretty fatless from the beginning, the action came as it was needed and the plot propelled itself forward.  I got lucky with this one.  I don’t have much whittling to do.  That’s not to say I won’t have a lot of editing to do but at least I won’t have to hack down to about 55,000 from 83,000 words.  That’s a mighty hack.

The two books, I know, will be two different editing experiences but I’m looking forward to it (although I’m plotting my procrastination now).  The new year will begin the editing process and I think I’ll edit the two before I start on something new or the next book in the sequence.  For one I don’t want first drafts piling up with no editing done.  I would like to find an agent sometime this century.  And two, I don’t see a point in starting the second book to either series before I have everything put together and organized in the first.  Since I write without looking back, I’d almost be writing the sequel blind and I’m really trying to keep my sanity intact, especially while I’m editing.  Plus it’ll give me a chance to catch up on my fun writing.  I miss my fun writing.

On a completely unrelated note, I have custom fields! Fun!  Now I just need to figure out how to use them.