Another Book Written!
A few years ago, my son who was six years old at the time had been reading THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, by C.S. Lewis with me. He loves all seven books and can tell you their order, the character names, the places, the events by memory. One night as we were reading together, he said, "Daddy, can you write me a book?"
Well, I just had to say yes. I asked him what kind of stories he liked and of course, he said those like Narnia. Far be it from me to imagine I could ever attempt to fill the shoes of my literary hero, but I knew I had to try to write something my son and daughter would one day enjoy–hopefully as much as Narnia.
Life happened.
Amidst the loss of family members, loss of jobs, moving and downsizing of our home, I slowed down in my writing. Not that I stopped writing, I actually completed my fourth novel during that period. I also released BEYOND JUSTICE (my third) and a series of short fiction, all of which have reached the top of several bestseller lists. This is not even to mention the four or five novels I started and put aside during that time. (When I'm ready for those, there will be a trove of new books coming out fast.)
So last year, I finally decided to go back and fulfill my promise to my son. A morbid thought came over me: What if I were to die suddenly? I really wanted to have this completed for him. But more positively, so that he could begin to enjoy it sooner. And, this being the first in a series, I would need to get it done so that the other books could come out in due time.
Well, last night I finally typed the last words in the book. The first draft is complete and it came out to just over 100,000 words, which I understand is a moderate length for a fantasy book.
Now, I have to go over it in editing and get ready to send it out to different markets.
But after a few years of not completing any novels (probably about 13 or so that are waiting to be finished), it's great to reach the end of one again. And it's even better that this is the fulfillment of a promise to my son.
