The last two days were a flurry of words on a screen as I completed my final chapter of Mermaids Curse. (read a chapter here)

Yes folks, it is done! Complete. Finished. Ready to be shipped off to an editor. And it is fantastic!

It clocks in at just over 67k words, so yes, it is a full fledged novel. The first I’ve written in years.

If you’re a frequent reader here you may recall that I finished this book a few months ago, then had a beta reader who said “these parts are missing”. She was right. She was so right that one of the chapters I added ended up being 7200 words, and an integral part of the story. And really tough to write because of how much action and emotion there was.

But, I’m really excited by the results. To date, this is the best thing I’ve written. It, of course, needs a good edit, but once I get that I will be so incredibly pleased with it all!

Next question… When will it be out?

It needs the edit, then I have to go through and approve the edits. That’s going to take a little time, it’s a long piece. Plus I need to finish the cover.

I’m hopeful 2-3 weeks for everything. Hopeful! But not certain.

This project took just over a year to complete. But don’t worry, I want just writing this story I was writing the entire trilogy during that year. I’m already 50k words into both book 2 and 3. That means finishing and polish should take about 3-4 months. Shooting to have them three months apart, but I also want them to be good so I’m not going to rush it.

This entire experience has been.. Incredible! I love writing novels. I love writing. I LOVE finishing stories and publishing them. I can’t wait to get this one out there!

This is definitely what I want to do with my life. I’m a writer. And if that is the only take away I have from this experience then it was worth it.