Sulfur: completed.

Editing is now before me, sitting like an ugly troll between my novel and publication. I'm late on my usual Friday post because Friday was the day I typed the last chapter, the last line, the last bit of dialogue between characters that have become downright precious to me.

I am exhausted. After putting Khensa through so much emotional and physical pain I find myself sharing her aches. With the story's completion, all I wanted was to get away from my computer. I went out to dinner, I ran some errands. Yesterday, I went salmon fishing, and last night I slept for twelve hours.

I must admit to a dissatisfaction with the ending. There is so much emotion (personal gratitude, narrative closure, suitably epic descriptors) I wanted to express in the last six or so chapters, that I feel one week's frantic writing could not adequately do my feelings justice. It will be revisited, perhaps lengthened, and then maybe I'll have my release from my characters and their stories.

For the first time today, I piled Sulfur's chapters into one mega-file (I usually edit in chapter chunks). I wanted to see what it's total length had come out to be, afraid that in my hurry to express all that needed to be expressed, I had shortened what should have been a novel of Farro's length.

I'm pleased to report my findings:

Farro = 35 Chapters = about 116,000 words

Sulfur = 32 Chapters = about 125,000 words

Long chapters, longer book, and hopefully (when all is said and done) better written.

Thank you all for your support and your advice. Thanks in particular to my husband, my two alpha-readers, and my three beta-readers.

Now, you've probably already heard but here's Chapter five of Sulfur, for your enjoyment.

Keep writing and don't stop for anything,

Arreana

This is how I write...

... I sit down, I open MS Word, and I smash the keys until the story's done.

I don't stop until I'm finished. I don't sideline projects in pursuit of others. I start a project and then I don't stop until I finish it. Frequently, I also won't eat, sleep, or read either. Why am I saying this? Because at work yesterday I saw an advertisement for a writing workshop program that the library will be hosting next month.

Writing workshops don't make sense to me. You don't learn how to write by instruction or reading or any other method save one: rote practice. The only way to learn to write is sit down and write. The only way to finish a short story or a novel or a screenplay is to keep writing until it's completed. Almost every time when I hear from a friend that they've "started writing" and "Won't you read it and let me know what you think?" I say yes. I want to support my friends, I think writing is an amazingly strong talent that can translate into many other skills. However, what do I get to look over? One chapter. One chapter that my friend has looked over so intensely that they haven't had a chance to write a word beyond it.

Please stop doing this. Please just write the book, beginning to end. All authors constantly have new ideas that pop into their heads, that doesn't mean you should drop your current project to run at it. Jot the idea down somewhere, stash it away for later, and get back to writing.

Why the rant? I'm sick of hearing about workshops and how-to books and writers' blogs. They're a waste of the writer's time. Write your damned book, and don't let some wayward "marketing" workshop derail you and make you rethink your whole project. Put the blinders on and just run for the finishing line.

Ironic, isn't it, that my advice to you is to not listen to advice from sources like this? If you're a writer get off this blog and go write something. Only when you've exhausted yourself, should you check out Chapter Four, The Axes They Wield.

Hair!

So, I have hair. Lots of it. It's thick and somewhat wavy and a rather neutral shade of brown. It's not particularly wonderful, it's usually incredibly difficult, and right now it's about fifteen inches longer than I want it to be. I like short hair. I like being able to use a tiny dab of shampoo to get the job done. I like waking up with bed head, throwing some hair spray on it and claiming it's "fashion". I don't like this long hair.

But my step-aunt-in-law (what a connection!) and my step-step-cousin (the plot thickens!) have inspired me to make the sacrifice and grow it out. They have been donating their hair for years now to Locks of Love, a charity that provides hair pieces to children who need them.

I've grown out my hair for two years now, not only because it's for an really flat-out awesome cause, but because it's something I can afford to do. One of these days, I'll be able to do more, but now, in such economically troubled times, all I can do is pull out my hair... somewhat literally.

So, as I embark to the hair salon to finally -- at last! -- cut this brown mass from my head, I suggest that other ladies (or men) consider doing the same. Aside from the wonderful "you're helping a child" feeling, there are still more reasons to consider it:

• Your hair's probably nicer than mine. Donate it so that some child doesn't get stuck with mine.
• It's probably hot where you live. Not here, in the Pacific Northwest, where everyday is in the 60's, but maybe where you live. Think of those hot days when all your hair does is act as an insulator for your sweaty, clammy neck.
• Try a new style. Some girls almost never cut their hair. My sister for instance, has had long, long hair since elementary school. I'm looking at you, Sis, when I say, "Try something new, cut off that pony tail and give it to someone who can't grow their own!"
• You're helping a child, dammit.
  
  

There, shame-free plug (pun not intended) complete! I hope I have inspired someone to do the same.

Now, as your reward, I present Chapter 3: Cedar and Pine

Two Kinds of Vacations

Having just returned from a vacation, I've temporarily become an expert on vacations. I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of vacations:

1. The Exciting Vacation: Where you go somewhere exotic or exciting and you get a tan and go swimming and generally spend way more money then you should. At these sort of vacations you exhaust yourself everyday and get far too little sleep. When the vacation is finally over, you feel rather sure that you now need a vacation from a vacation, or a pain killer and a seriously long nap.
   
   
2. The Relaxing Vacation: You go somewhere scenic and peaceful and plant yourself like a fern. You don't go anywhere, you sleep in and and take naps and read books and generally do nothing. Maybe you're like me and you visit family, or maybe you just stay at home, or maybe you rent a yurt by the the ocean and teach us all how it's done. Whatever way you choose, you're relaxing and escaping for a week. You put off your obligations and focus on yourself. You ignore you email box, you catch up on games and you don't think about the mound of things you have waiting for you at the end of the week.

So those are your options, but either way coming back from a vacation is a shock. Either because you're suffering from sunburn, jet lag, and exhaustion, or because you're suffering from the shock of having to once more face responsibly.

I have a serious case of the latter. My email box has exploded, my house has exploded (we're having a garage sale this weekend, so that hasn't exactly helped), and now my head feels like it's exploding. I've been back from vacation for two days and already I want to crawl back to bed and coffee and Colin Firth in Mr. Darcy's hosiery (You might wonder at this point what the hell I've been up to this last week and a half, and I'll hint that it has a lot too do with sleeping, caffeine, grandparents, shopping, and Jane Austen.)

So while I recover from vacation system-shock, here's Chapter Two of Sulfur ready to read!

Love,

Arreana