Eternal Nights is almost done. The Prologue through Chapter 19 are completely finished. I went through last night and made all the markups I did on the printout for those pages. Chapters 20-21 are nearly done, so is 23. They just need a polishing run. 22 needs a bit more work at the end of it, but I'm about ready to call this puppy done. Thank goodness! I'm really looking forward to printing this thing out, and starting before 8pm for a change. I'm looking forward to driving over to Fed Ex tomorrow and handing the package to the clerk.
Part of me will be sad to be finished. Not with the writing part, but with being able to hang out with the characters. Wyatt really grew on me. He's unlike my normal hero--he's still alpha, but much sweeter. He kind of snuck up on me too. I always liked him, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him. And I love watching him with Kendall. He's just so incredible with her and her fears.
Of course, I'll still have revisions from my editor to work on, so this isn't goodbye, it's just see you later. And after that will be galleys, but after today, my focus will start to shift to Deke and Ryne, and it won't be the same with Wyatt and Kendall.
At the risk of rambling, I honestly miss my characters when they're gone. Or far enough away to call them gone. After a little while, their loss isn't as immediate or as strong, and I can look back at them fondly. Right now, though, I'm kind of mourning a loss that I know is approaching. I think this is why I read my books when I get them, so I can spend more time with my characters. It's not the same as writing with them, but it's a nice visit, and a chance to simply enjoy them without all the work involved. It makes me wonder, though, do other writers miss their characters this much when they're gone? This is something I've never asked anyone.
Anyway, it's time to be done despite the sense of impending loss. My wrists and thumb hurt from typing. My head, neck, shoulders, and back hurt from being hunched over the laptop. My eyes hurt from staring intently at the computer screen for so long, and even sleep didn't restore them.
I mentioned I had to rewrite most of Chapter 22. I had a terrible time with the first scene in the chapter. And that might be understating it. It was just awful! So I did a few more searches for area rugs. I found one I liked MUCH better than the one I mentioned yesterday. I won't mention where I found it since I don't want to be accused of shilling again, but this rug is so much cooler than the other one! It's also $160 more and slightly smaller. Not much, but still.... This store has free shipping until Jan 8th, so I'm going to wait until the last minute to order it. And it even has a matching runner for the hallway! There's a cool round rug that I could put in the dining room, but it's almost as much as the rectangular rug, and I can't afford both. Actually, it hurts to even fork over the money for one. I can't believe how expensive rugs are!
I need to get to work. I still have plenty to do, but the end is in sight.
BTW, so far I've cut 21 pages. My goal was to cut 20. The work I have to do at the end of Chapter 22 might had a page, so I should hit my goal exactly. Cool!
