180,000 Words

180,135 words, to be exact. Hurray, I am finally finished with my novel ‘Tarnished Valor’. I never dreamed I would get to 180,000 words. That’s 350 pages single-spaced). When I started writing the novel in January 2007 (One year ago in the Dominican Republic), my goal was 150,000 words. I took a break from it last fall, because I sort of ran into a bit of writers block. So I worked on two shorter novels (Orion, Symbiont of Passion and Orola, Warrior Priestess). Both books will be published in 2009. Once I started up again with Tarnished Valor, I found my interest again and from then on it was write, write and write.
Well, here I am today. Finally finished with the first draft. My mind is clear again, but now the work begins. Editing and editing. Make sure there are no spelling errors, of which there are many at this time. I’ll have to iron out some inconsistencies in the story because as the story started to progress, new ideas popped into my head and I eliminated some stuff that I had planned, ideas that didn’t pan out. The ending turned out differently from what I had in mind, but I’m happy with it. I believe it’s a great story.
Once I’m finished with editing and fixing errors, then I’ll be looking for an agent. I don’t really want this book published as an e-book. It actually is too long for that. Rather, my dream is to find a print publisher. But we’ll see what happens. It will be a slow and possibly a long road, but that’s okay.
My next novel is probably going to be another Science Fiction novel. It’s been kicking around in my head and I had to suppress it. I already have the title. Epsilon. It is based on a short story I wrote ‘Outpost Epsilon’, to be published by Midnight Showcase in August. I liked the world I created there and it calls for a longer novel. We’ll see. For now I am as happy as a clam.