The First Draft for “Dragons in the Dungeon” is Complete

Around 1:00 am Friday morning, I turned off the computer and went to bed. I had stayed up late to finish the first draft of Dragons in the Dungeon. Although I had written the final scene twice, it still didn’t feel right. I had to sleep on it.

I woke six hours later and had a clearer image. I rewrote the last scene, didn’t like it and wrote it again. This version satisfied me. It’s the basic form I was searching for, and it officially completed the first draft of this stand-alone traditional fantasy novel.

The word count stands at 154,122. It’s roughly 431 pages (4 inches by 6 inches). It’s broken down into 33 chapters with almost all of them having a second scene. Each chapter has a title.

Now the hard part begins. I can’t read it for a week. I really want to start rereading and editing it now, but I know it is best to leave it be for at least one week.

This will give me time to catch up on everything I’ve ignored the past two weeks: email messages, blog posts, weeding the garden, housework, building that goat shed. When I near the end of a book, I’m all in. Nothing else in the world matters. I do the bare minimum to survive the day. Needless to say, things stack up. Oh, well, life goes on. And the first draft is done.

I’m really feeling good about this story. It’s full of adventure, action, magic and friendship. Now that the writing is done, I’ll share more of it on this blog.

August Book Sale

For the month of August, Shadows in the Stone, the first book in the Castle Keepers series, is on sale for 99 cents. It’s regular $4.99.