My Novel's Journey: Neeta Lyffe 2 First Draft Done

What do you get when you combine a husband away for business, a furnace that won't work, and a story that gets a hold of you?  I got the conclusion of Neeta Lyffe 2; I Left My Brains in San Francisco!

Last week, Rob had to go to St. Louis for some meetings, and my car was in the shop, and then the furnace broke, so it was the perfect time to curl up under covers with my laptop to give me heat and just write.  I averaged 4000 words a day until I got to the end.  Woo-hoo!  I think I also have found my upper limit: 5000 words.  After that, my typing speed is holding me back, as is my ability to imagine and write at the same time.

However, just because I got to the end of the story, does not mean the manuscript is ready to go.  This one has had an interrupted history as I waited for information from sources in the oil refinery industry.  Also, when it came down to the end, some great new tweaks (and characters) introduced themselves, so my work has been to go back and weave in elements so that the first half and last half mesh better.

to do that, I printed out the manuscript, and am outlining it, trying to get a feel again for the flow of the story and the placement of the elements, and where I can naturally add sideplots.  Once I've finished, I think I may have to do this again, this time making columns for each plot to ensure that they are progressing at a proper pace.  Once again, I have a story where one character carries the main storyline, but the supporting stories are handled by a multitude of others. 

This has been a lot of fun, as I can introduce some of the quirky elements that I loved in Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator.  We won't have forums this time, but we will have a Tweet analog, called Babble. I also added some more zombie sightings in San Francisco, which I was able to do with the suggestions of folks on Facebook.

Hopefully, by next week, I can announce that I'm sending it to critiquers and beta readers.