I’ve finished the first draft of Shadow Dance!  All week it’s felt like I had to pry each and every word from the clenched jaws of my muse.  I was generally making my word count goals, but I was paying for it.  Then last night something clicked into place and I couldn’t write fast enough.

The hour got later–it was well after midnight–but I was still writing.  My hubby went to bed just before 2:00, and I finished up a climactic scene and told myself that would do.  I should go to bed.

But why would I go to bed when I wasn’t tired (I’d fallen asleep for awhile earlier in the evening) and the words were waiting to be written?  I let myself get back up and finished the book just before 4:00am.

But the minute I’d settle the last words to my satisfaction I was completely exhausted–so, much as a middle-of-the-night posting would have been fun, the report’s going up now.

I’m thrilled to have gotten it all out, and can’t wait to start revising.  This draft is really rough, so I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied for the next week at least.  Sometime after that I’ll need to bring in my readers and begining the process of finetuning based on feedback.  But for now, it’s party time!

(You’ll notice that while the red bar is almost to the end, it doesn’t quite touch.  I came in aprox. 1,000 words less than I planned–but I’m cool with that.  The first draft is still hereby considered complete.)