Book I is now 35 chapters, 97k words, and basically in the form I want it to have.
That is, the drafting is complete, but the revising is not!
This is the first book of this length that I have ever written, and it’s taken me all of 2026 to get to this point. Looking at how much I wrote by month, the truth outs itself: I really didn’t hit my stride until June and July.
| Month | Written | Cut/revised | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11,128 | 1,509 | 9,619 |
| February | 67 | 1 | 66 |
| March | 1,370 | 905 | 465 |
| April | 10,568 | 3,115 | 7,453 |
| May | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 26,395 | 5,050 | 21,345 |
| July | 56,918 | 16,611 | 40,307 |
| August (so far) | 27,106 | 8,486 | 18,620 |
| Total | 133,552 | 35,677 | 97,875 |
So what happened in June? Well, without spoilers, that’s when I finally reached the point where I’m not just introducing new characters and settings, but instead letting things happen. It’s when the characters took on a life of their own, and started telling me what they’d say and do.