“The End”

Today I finished the first draft of the third and final book in my Above World series. I’ve written my fifth book and my first-ever trilogy!

Although my feelings are mixed — I’ve been with these characters for over five years now — I feel good. Epically good. I hear birds chirping and see unicorns dancing on rainbows everywhere I look.

This last week was my “make-it-or-break-it” week for the novel. I wrote about five hours a day (more during the last few chapters), and here’s how the word counts played out:

2700 Sunday
2600 Monday
1400 Tuesday
1500 Wednesday
1900 Thursday
2000 Friday
2500 Saturday
1500 Sunday

That’s over 16,000 words from Sunday to Sunday. I want to cry from exhaustion, cry with joy, and then sleep for a hundred hours. I want to heap gifts and praise on Chris East and Stephanie Burgis, who selflessly read each messy chapter as I went and encouraged me to keep going.

I can’t believe it’s over. Well, except for 3 to 10 rounds of revisions and edits, of course. But those are milestones for another day.