BearzuSmash

Oh, hey. An update.

Thanks! I actually get a few days off now before it starts all over again.  

Here we are after ten months, bringing Mozu and Cordelia and Linebaugh and Olcán’s story to a close. 19 chapters, 504 pages, 157,259 words.

I’m not even entirely sure of what to say at this point, but I’ll have a go at something, so bear with me. After those ten months of work I think I’ve earned a bit of a ramble.

I started this project, as I’ve said, to get back to doing a little writing after a decade-long hiatus, but the project and the characters quickly took on a life of their own, and even as I was finishing up chapter one, I started to realize this would be a much larger project than I’d imagined. Still—nothing close to the more than 500 pages we’ve ended up with.

Sure, I grimace at a lot of the writing in the earlier chapters, but at the same time, it’s pretty entertaining to go back and see the progress I’ve made as a writer over the better part of a year--progress I’ll continue to make going forward as I try and turn this hobby into something vaguely resembling a career.

Writing has allowed me to do something that music never could for all the years I poured into it—to create something I can stand back from and take an objective look at and still be truly proud of, and to create something that’s touched other people’s lives as well.

It’s been an amazing, exhausting experience . . . but it’s only just begun. For quite some time, and then in earnest shortly before the New Year, I started to realize that this project--or rather, these characters and the continuing stories of their lives and adventures--needed a venue unfettered by someone else’s lore, and I began to plan.

So, while I say “here we are”, what I really mean is, “enjoy this for a bit—when you see Mozu and Cordelia and Linebaugh next, they’ll be on a grander stage,” and there’s plenty more to be told beyond the story of Thorn.

Honestly, as tired as I am and worn out by the whole thing, I absolutely cannot wait to get started again. I’m looking forward to watching this, their first story, expand and evolve and flesh itself out even more, what with a whole new world to run rampant in, and I fully expect that Thorn will end up as two books instead of one with--as I’ve said--plenty more to follow.

And so, please allow me, for one last time, to present the next final chapter and epilogue of Thorn. Thank you all so very, very much.

How strange to be posting the penultimate chapter, and how strange to see ten months of work coming to an end of sorts. I suppose I'd be feeling pretty maudlin right now if this wasn't really more of a beginning than anything.

Chapter 18 is probably my favorite to date, and it all came together with surprising ease. I'll admit, I had more than a little trepidation at the prospect of finding myself at this point--needing to wrap things up--but once I'd started, the words just came.

I'm still getting a kick out of the milestones, I'll admit as well, and chapter 18 finds Thorn blowing past the 450 page mark--and I have no doubt that when all is said and done, we'll have passed the 150,000 word mark as well.

For now, though, please enjoy chapter 18, or as Linebaugh so aptly puts it, the calm before the storm. See you in a couple of weeks with the final chapter.

Y'know, I had a big post all ready to go, but I'm really damned excited, and I think I'll just let this chapter speak for itself. Seventeen down, two (and an epilogue) to go.

As always, I am very proud to present the next installment of Thorn--chapter 17.