The Good, the Bad, and the Buffy

Empress of Dorsa update:

Words today: 3,300

Manuscript total: 203,905

The Good

I heard from one reader who was worried about me because I hadn’t really posted anything since my surgery and I hadn’t indicated that I was finished with Empress yet. I was hoping not to blog again until I could share the good news that Empress was finished, but, as will soon become apparent, that would mean quite some time yet, and therefore ……..

Hello from Sunday, August 1, 2021, a day which saw me pump out more words on my Empress of Dorsa manuscript than I have in quite some time. A day which puts me fewer than 2,000 words away from my total manuscript goal of 205,000 words. That’s good news, since summer vacation is about to end and I go back to work this coming Thursday and the amount of time I will have after next week to devote to writing will go from, “Virtually all the time I want each day!” to “Writing? I write? I’m a writer?”

Also good: I’m about 90 percent recovered from my May 5th hysterectomy. I’m back to boxing about three times per week, and I would’ve even gone to the gym for the first time since surgery today, except that I got lazy and decided to spend my afternoon writing instead.

The Bad

Now for the not-as-good news: I don’t think my book is actually going to be finished when I hit 205,000 words tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong; the end is still nigh, but I’m thinking I probably have another 10 – 15,000 words to write before this puppy is finally cooked. That’s not really that much when I’m writing at today’s pace of 3,300 words, but when I put my middle school teacher hat back on and spend my day wrangling twelve year-olds, my 3,300 words per day pace will drop to more like 500 words per day, and then 15,000 more words seems like quite a lot.

Even when the draft is finished, I still have to do round one of editing (six to eight weeks, I’m guessing), then send that draft to an editor for a final round of editing (realistically, another six weeks).

All in all, that means a release date for Empress sometime this fall, but probably closer to November than September. As for audio, well, that’s a whole other thing that’s going to be another three or four month process, so I’m thinking either late 2021 or early 2022.

Hey, at least I managed to keep one promise. When one of my Patreon peeps asked me when the book would be out, I told her, “Before the Winds of Winter.” (That’s nerd-speak for, “George R.R. Martin is never going to finish The Song of Ice and Fire.)

(Speaking of Patreon, if you’re dying for book 3 to be finished (Lord knows I am!) and you just can’t bear to wait a few more months, you can read the first 20 – 25 beta chapters over on my Patreon site.)

The Buffy

I might not quiiiiiiiiiiiite finish my novel before summer vacation ends, but there is one thing I’m pretty sure I’ll finish before I go back to work: all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, along with two quirky sculptures that I sculpted and painted while watching. I got tired of LT always referencing her Favorite Show of All Time Ever and not understanding what she was talking about.

“Oh, that’s just like on Buffy, when Spike …” she’d say, and I’d be more or less instantly lost.

No more! Now I know all about the time demons cursed Sunnydale and no one could speak for the entire episode, or the time a demon cursed Sunnydale and everyone spent the entire episode breaking into song, or the time a witch (accidentally) cursed Sunnydale and all the main characters forgot who they were.

So anyway. If you want to know why summer’s done but my novel isn’t, blame Buffy.

Or really: Blame LT for getting me hooked on Buffy.

Actually, no, don’t blame LT. And if you told her I told you to blame her, I will deny everything.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, Empress of Dorsa is almost finished but not quite; I can box again but I’m too lazy to get my @$$ to the gym; George R.R. Martin decided he’s too rich to finish writing his series; and I’m about to finish Buffy and move onto Angel.

The End. Time to go play D&D.