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March 03, 2006
UMBRA All Finished--Author Boy Knackered
It weighs in at a hefty 106,500 words, which is within the target length I was aiming for, and it's taken me six and a bit months, and there were plenty of times I never thought I'd get to this point, but this book is done!
Yes, I still have to go through it later to fix bits up, and make the beginning jibe with the ending, and all those little continuity things that make for a decent book. And yes I'm not sure if it's as good as ECLIPSE (remembering that UMBRA is a sequel), but it could be a good middle volume for a trilogy. The way UMBRA finishes leaves the way cleared for a third volume. Whether I eventually write that third volume I do not know. At the moment I just hope I can sell this one, once it's been up on the hoist and fixed up.
Last year I had the catastrophic failure of the ANTIMATTER VOODOO project. 82,000 words, going fairly well, and had to junk the whole damn thing because I screwed up the research on a key bit of the premise. Egad, but that sucked like a chest wound, and I never recovered, or at least not for a long, long time. I remember going to see my psychiatrist one day when in the midst of the many failed attempts to rewrite the thing (which, thinking about it, feels a lot like trying un-bog a bogged car), and he asked me how I was, and I said, "Well, I can't write worth crap, but otherwise doing pretty well." I'm lucky he didn't hit me with a dead squid for my self-pity, but at the time that's how it felt, like Austin Powers when he's lost his Mojo.
So this week has been pretty interesting, writing-wise. First the big award on Saturday, and now a nice finished novel manuscript to show off. I saw my doctor again today. He asked how I was. I told him I was doing pretty well, and why. It was a nice moment.
Now if I could just shake the bloody headaches!
* * *
PS: Thank you to my friends out there who've stopped by to congratulate me on the Aurealis Award win. It's been a wonderful thing to share with you guys.
Posted by adrian at March 3, 2006 03:23 PM
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Comments
Exclamation of pleasant surprise! Didn't realise your newest baby was so near completion. Hot damn. You must feel pretty good about yourself, eh? Rightly so. Well done mate.
Thanks for the virtual grapes, by the way - they were invaluable for staving off the cloud of depression which descended every time I was presented with yet another greyish, luke-warm hospital meal. Mmmm. Gotta love the National Health Service. ;)
Posted by: pastamasta at March 21, 2006 03:16 PM
Well done, old bean! Take a day or three off before tackling the polish-up, you deserve it!
Posted by: Charlie at March 7, 2006 05:12 AM
It's great to hear UMBRA is done, that must make you feel considerably better. And you have your glass trophy thing still to arrive! Something impressive to put over the fireplace and gaze at contentedly whenever you feel down has got to be a good thing.
P.S. Have you read ROUGH DRAFT by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta (Analog last year)? It's available for _free_ download from Fictionwise at the moment. I think you might enjoy it given your current state :-)
Posted by: David S. at March 4, 2006 05:04 AM
it always makes me happy to hear of your successes!
Posted by: river selkie at March 4, 2006 01:50 AM
Well, apparently more congratulations are in order! (Really, stop doing such a good job - my throat is getting hoarse from all the cheering.)
*love and hugs*
Posted by: treefen at March 3, 2006 09:36 PM
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