Last week I published a post on here saying that I finished my WIP (you can read it here). And in a way I had. I'd finished the story and I'd edited the prose. But I still had a proofread to do before I could actually export it and say that I finished my book.
Well, I finished the proofread (and an adjustment to a tricky scene and a tiny plot hole) and Monday (5th September 2022) marks the day that I can officially call it DONE!
I am finished. Now, I have not had BETA readers look at it. I have a BETA reading group that will read it, but my slot isn't until November. We're reading someone else's work first. And then my BETA readers will be given two months to read it until the end of 2022. Which basically means there is nothing I can do on my WIP (can I even call it a WIP now that it's done?) until I've had that feedback.
I won't make any changes until then. I don't think I can. I want to move on to something else. This book has been three years in the making now, and honestly, I'm tired. But I'm also really f**king proud of myself for having gotten this far. I did not just write a book. I rewrote it completely, I revised and edited and proofread and had CPs look at it. It's been through a lot. And I am happy with the outcome. It could probably be better. But, as it is right now, I feel I've written the best story I could have.
Now I'm going to take a break. I'm going to let my characters rest. They've been on such a roller coaster and need to take a breath and maybe a nap to collect themselves. I am not going to write book two. I need a break from the characters and the world and the magic. I just want to work on something completely different. And I know exactly what.
With that said, I'm going to leave you and dive into my new project, which I will introduce in a later post...