Finished 2!!!

Today, just before starting work, I finally finished writing the first draft of Cupidity. Wow, I can't believe it's done! I've been working on that book for about two years, give or take a month. Some books are like that; I'll put them aside for a while, then feel a pull to get back into them. Cupidity got written in stages, or acts. Each time I put it aside, I'd reached a big plot point or a nice to-be-continued spot.

I never gave up on it, though - I always planned to get back to it and finish it off. It's a story I had to tell, and I'm glad to have told it. Give it a few months and I'll start the editing/rewriting. Most likely, though, I'll get to The 5 Demons You Meet In Hell first.

Hah. I put the notebook containing the last few chapters down on my desk, and Karma leaped up and batted it off. Everybody's a critic, even kittens!

Finished!!!

Big news! Big news! Yesterday afternoon, during my lunch break, I finished writing the first draft of The 5 Demons You Meet In Hell. Finally! It feels good to finally have that one in the can.

Of course, it's not finished-finished, if you know what I mean. I still have a few chapters left to type up (I do my 1st drafts longhand in a notebook), and then I'll have to rewrite and edit it. Nevertheless, the basic story is down, and I'm pretty happy with it.

One change I've already made is to the title. It used to be The 25 Demons You Meet In Hell, but I realized I didn't need that many demons. I like the new title better, because that makes it a much closer spoof title to Mitch Ablom's The 5 People You Meet In Heaven. Right away, you'll know you're in for something metaphysical yet funny. I like that kind of story.

I'm still writing Cupidity; I'm on chapter 27, and I estimate there will be 30 chapters when I reach the end. I should have that one done by early March.

Back To Normal: Part II

Life is returning to a state of normalcy once again. Violet is bravely coping with her loss, and is back at school and working hard. It was her birthday last Friday, and I successfully threw her a surprise party at The Willow, our favourite restaurant. A good crowd of our friends turned up, and made for a very fun evening. It was the first surprise party Violet has ever had, which is pretty neat considering she threw me my first ever surprise party back when we were dating.

My new job has been going well. I'm getting used to the system and making fewer mistakes, and my co-workers are starting to accept me as one of them. The work itself can get pretty dull sometimes, but I'm managing to cope.

Sadly, I have not finished off either of my two major novel projects. It seems I'm not much of a deadline kind of guy. I don't want to set another I-should-be-done-by date, but I think two more weeks should do it.

Karma has taken to waking me in the middle of the night, wanting affection. He climbs up onto my chest, then he turns around and waits for an ear scratching. My reward is that he'll snuggle up with me afterward. I just love the guy.