It happened yesterday, with a final keystroke and a feeling of exaltation. I looked at the last words and thought of all the previous ones that had led me to that moment, of all the hopes and too-long-delayed hours of work that had produced them. I just about dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back, because, unlike some other achievements in my life, I knew I deserved it.

The raw draft of The Footsteps of Cain is finished.

There are plenty of revisions to be made...in fact I'm sure I'll encounter many sections of it that will make me downright cringe when I encounter them, again...but 471 or so pages isn't something to sneeze at.

I'm just realizing I don't quite understand that idiom. I've never, in my life, sneezed at something that I considered to be inferior. That would be gross and spread disease.

So, on to the next phase; the edits. Time to stamp out all those pesky logic issues and inconsistent details, and just generally make the crappy stuff...better. I make a habit of rereading the stuff I wrote the day before and making some minor grammatical changes to it, so I've been doing some of that already. My hopes are that that habit has at least brought up the readability from “yikes” to “mmm, okay”. In the next run, I'm going to do my damndest to bring “mmm, okay” to “huh...pretty good”. Of course, if I get lucky and I get up to “hey, wow”, I'll take a champagne bubble bath, and everybody who wouldn't consider it creepy can come on over and hop in.

Upon further consideration, I'll be doing that alone. At an undisclosed time. In my mind. No offense...I just don't know where you guys have been.

I can't believe I made it here. I've been waiting for years to be able to focus on this; it's really gratifying to have produced something tangible, at whatever level of quality. So I'll pin an “Atta-boy” medal on my own chest and feel pretty good about it.

I'm thinking of changing the blog somewhat, to include an option for people to subscribe to notifications for new posts through email, if I can, even though for some reason Weebly doesn't recommend it. Whatever. You don't own me, Weebly. I'm sorry, Weebly...that wasn't necessary. You've been good to me, and I should appreciate that.

Shutting up. Back to work.

Damn you, holidays. How dare you get in the way of THE WORK. You really are a jerk. Hey, I rhymed! That was totally unintentional.

Despite the massive speed bump of the break, I do have something to report. Just before I saturated myself with cookies and presents, I did hit a milestone. 400 pages! 100,000 words! That was my original estimate, quantity-wise, and I'm kind of psyched that I made it there. If I had to guess, I'm thinking that I've got another 10,000 to 15,000 to go, and I'll stamp this puppy as “kind of finished”!. Kind of, because of the whole editing thing, which of course will be lickity-split, because of COURSE I'm SO GOOD that the manuscript in it's raw form is PERFECT. (Bluster bluster bluster...ego ego ego.)

Okay...maaaaaybe there will still be some work to be done. I've divided the book into three acts, or “books”. The first and third, I think are pretty strong. It's that pesky middle one that's going to need the most work. I am really happy how the third act is concluding...I think things are getting wrapped up alright. Although, I'm sure that when I go back through I'll realize that I forgot something HUGE, like neglecting to mention something really important, like how, in the distant dystopian future, nobody bothers to wear pants. EVER.

Was that a red herring? A ruse? Or, in fact, is it critical plot exposition??? You'll never know. I mean, you will...that is...when I finish this thing and get it the eff out of the factory and into the hands of the consuming public.

I'm pretty happy. February was and is my original delivery time, and I think I'm still going to make it, as long as something horrible doesn't happen. Even if it slips, I can still say that I've done a decent job committing to the progress. Yay, me. (Back slapping sound.)

The funny thing about these posts is that I'm not sure that anybody actually reads them. I haven't really done much to promote myself yet, because I don't like saying things like “Hey, guys! I'm Derek! I'm writing a book! Oh...no...it's not done yet...but if you'll wait a few months I'll have it all ready!” I just figure that people might forget about it, and not come back to paint my greedy hands with their hard-earned greenbacks. (There. You've made me spill my ultimate, evil intentions.) But, if anybody really is seeing this...well...then thanks. :)

The era of “pre-first-book” is a special kind of purgatory. There's nothing to point to, other than the idea of a product. Everything is just preamble and intent...there's nothing concrete, other than a web page and a bio. Sigh. I've wanted this for so long. The last few yards are truly the longest.

But, when it's all written and done, I'll be a world-famous, lambo-driving, surrending-to-excess SOB, and I'll be loving it. Or, the book will suck, and I'll live the rest of my life inside my literal closet.

Or, perhaps somewhere in between. Tally ho!

Back to work.