Done with Medusan Mutation!

Medusan Mutation is done! Yay! I started it on January 20th and finished it on February 20th. Not too bad at all! It was a relatively easy book to write since it was a rewrite of an older book, of course, but I still feel a great deal of satisfaction at getting it done. I'm always amazed at how much improvement I've made from one version to the next. I like to pull up older stuff to work on now and then. It gives me just the right 'yes, you do write better than you used to!' charge that helps me go on to new stuff with some confidence.

But it's done, and I'm happy!

Well, done enough for the moment, anyway. I've changed two names so far. I also need to let it sit for a couple weeks and then read it again.

The picture today is of my work board that I used while I worked on the book. Since Medusan Mutation is part of a much larger universe, I found it handy to jot down anything that would be used again elsewhere, and pinned the notes to the board. That allowed me to keep track of things for this book and for the future as well. Over the next few days, I'll pull them down and type the material into an Access database, which will allow me to pull it up again later for other work.

The cork board is sitting on the floor against the wall. I found out by accident (not able to put it up by myself) that this actually works very well for me. It's right where I can see and reach it, and it was no problem to add new notes, change things, and scribble stuff on older notes already pinned there as I went along.

I've tried doing stuff like this before, but it never worked as well as it did this time. I used a draft copy manuscript and tore it into fours. I could have used notecards (I have a ton of them around there somewhere) but when I do, I feel like I have to write important things, and do it neatly and file it properly. This was just scratch paper with little notes on it. Worked very well.

Working in a universe that has several stories means that I'm bound to make continuity mistakes. This will help cut those problems down, at least. I had already started to build the database late last year, but getting info into it just bogged down. I like this much better.

I am now at a very odd stage where I'm not certain what I'll work on next. I have several pieces that need to be done -- a workshop for Vision, and about 30k on the last Dark Staff book which came in very short. That's the one I need to concentrate on. I think I can get it done between now and the 8th, when I will start a new novel.

I am still managing 3,000 words a day. I've love that part, though looking at the rest of today (only about 600 words so far and nothing new lined up) looks a bit difficult. Maybe I'll write a new short story. I have not written enough short stories the last few years, and I miss them.

I have editing to do, too. I want a couple things done soon.

But it's going well, really. A nice, good prolific year, with a little over 150,000 words written so far, and lots of editing done as well. Next up is getting the rest of Vision put together.

I'm happy!