FINALLY
I just typed the last few words of "Ohntai." The first draft is done,
finally done, and comes in at just under 9000 words.
Lord, that was a lot of work and not so very long, considering the amount of time that I've spent on it thus far. (How many months is it now?) Course, it's much longer than I was originally anticipating; stories can be surprising that way. I haven't read it through yet (and am mentally bracing myself), though I fear I will have to get out my long, curved critiquing knives and get cutting. We shall see.
Got a call from my employer today, and will be starting work on May 3rd. They are lovely to me, understanding that I need to get my final exams and research essays out of the way before I feel comfortable starting full time. Though part of me (the part which is aware of how much I'm plowing myself into debt these days) really wants/needs money now, this is really smartest in the long term, I think. So: school projects need to be finished over the next week, and handed in, and then I'd like to get some serious work done on both "I Breathe" and "Ohntai" to get them ready for submission. Need new stories in the mail.
Course, I've realized over the last little bit that I really do have enough stuff to turn "I Breathe" into a novel, especially if I allowed myself to get into Nerene's point of view instead of staying only in Leah's, though it'd be an odd, quiet little novel. (That description alone is almost enough to make me want to write it.) But it can be a short story too, I think, even a halfway decent one, so I have to get this version ready to hit the mail pronto. And hope that the Universe has been kind to me and that my writing instincts have not left me, and that "Ohntai" is actually readable. Wish me luck.
