WHEW!

Yesterday, I sent the last five chapters to my betas. YAAAY! I had saved those chapters because I hadn't written the climactic battle scene (chapter 16) yet - I skipped over it and wrote the end instead. I knew I could write a good battle scene, having done quite a few of them in my Harry Potter novels. It was an amazing relief to send it out and realize I'm FREE for a while! Until I get the betas' responses (and I've already received some, and so far, they like it and haven't had too many suggestions, which means I did a decent job to start with! YAY!), I'm FREE and can do other things! I have a painting to work on, three sculptures in various stages to work on, and some more HP stories to write to keep my HP readers happy (and fill in the gaps I left in the epilogue to "The Time of Destiny" which you can read on my Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPRefinersFire - be sure to read "Refiner's Fire" first, or some things in Destiny won't make sense!). So now I'm off to write wedding stories for my HP fans, and maybe a few SF/F stories for the short story market (hopefully), too. It was an amazing thing, though, the sense of freedom I had after sending that file off to the betas. HUZZAH! LOL!

Abraxan

And it's off to the betas we go!

The first five chapters are edited, polished, and as good as I can get them. They were sent to the betas last night. I've heard from four betas so far (out of six) that they got it, and one has already started reading it and liked the first chapter. YAY! I hope to get the first ten to fifteen chapters out to them by the end of the week! The story's finished except for that climactic battle scene (one chapter, no big deal to write), and I like how it turned out, yippee! I'll hold chapters 16-20 until I get the battle scene written and polished. THEN the betas can have it all! And then I'll take some time off to paint, sculpt, ride my horse, start some short stories and book 2 of this trilogy/series (which is already starting to develop in my mind)! Yay!!

Abraxan

Progress!

I've tidied things up here a bit, changing some settings, etc. Hopefully that will make the blog easier for my friends to use.

As far as the writing goes - I started writing the climactic battle scene yesterday, YAY! That means only about 4 chapters to go to finish this first novel!! Today, I'm going to skip over the battle scene and write the aftermath, since defining the wounds involved and all that may help me come up with some new spells to have the fighters cast during the battle. I had the aftermath show up in my head full-blown last night (one of the reasons I don't get a lot of sleep is that my plots come to me as I'm drifting off, or in a dream, and then I wake up and work through them, working out dialog, etc. as I lie there not sleeping. . .argh.) Anyway, I'm pleased with how things are coming along! Can't wait to get it finished so I can read it through as one book! YIPPEE!!

Abraxan

Whew!

I just LOVE summer! Especially when I have a whole week with very few appointments, so my time is my own. So I spent time riding my horse a while ago, and now have to clean stalls and the tack room, but that time gives me thinking time. My novel is so close to finished now - I'm about to begin the big climactic battle, yay!! I wish I had even more uninterrupted hours in the day so I could get into the story and STAY there rather than having to answer the phone when my foundry calls about a bronze casting I've ordered for a customer ("Just Trying to Help" http://www.thesculptedhorse.com/trying.html) That call reminded me I needed to call my other foundry to get them to cast a "Harmony" for me (http://www.thesculptedhorse.com/harmony.html) so I will have one to show in my booth at Equine Affaire in the fall, since I sold my Artist's Proof and the only other casting I have is in the USDF Hall of Fame at the Kentucky Horse Park!

Business keeps getting in the way, but the writing is going so well! I've gotten the characters and the "world" established, the little bit of romance for this novel has been written (there will be more in future books) and some fighting has happened. Now it's time for the big battle that will be the climax of this book, then a little cleanup stuff after and I'm DONE! I've given myself a June 30 deadline for the first draft of the novel. I'm hoping I'll finish early so I can have time to re-read and polish it before sending it to my betas. BOY I'm eager for somebody other than me to read it!!! I sure hope they like it! I think it's a good read so far, but then again, it's my baby, so I could be seeing it through eyes of love. . .ack! :-)

Abraxan