First draft complete!

I finished the first draft of The Exclusive yesterday afternoon! I ended up with about 82,000 words. I imagine I'll add 2,000-3,000 words in the next draft to clean up a few things related to the ending. I'm now in the same place I was about a month ago, when I blogged about what I wanted to write next.

Yep, exact same situation right now. The Exclusive gets shelved for a while--probably three weeks to a month--before I start going back through it. I'll come up with a revision plan and work on improving the book during its first revision. After that, it will go off to Beta Reader Supreme for both a bigger-picture look and a proofread. After that, more revisions.

My thoughts on the process of writing a first draft via Twitter:

2,000 words today! That wraps up the first draft of my WIP. Time to put it aside & try to forget how awful a first draft can be. #amwriting

— Matt Adams (@statomatty) April 8, 2014

Now I have to figure out what to write next. This is perhaps my least favorite thing ever.

— Matt Adams (@statomatty) April 8, 2014

It's so much easier for me to actually work on a project than it is to pick the next thing to write.

— Matt Adams (@statomatty) April 8, 2014

I've got a list of things I can work on next. Just need to pick one and outline it. I love outlines. Kind of.

— Matt Adams (@statomatty) April 8, 2014

I've started the querying process on one of my novels. I haven't seriously queried a novel in a very long time. In my next blog post, I'll write a little about why it's taken so long for me to query projects. I'm sure it'll be a thrill.

Updates and some events

It's been pretty quiet in the writing world lately. I'm polishing, polishing, polishing the "untitled space station novel."

I've also been working very hard on a new project called The Exclusive. The genre--paranormal suspense--isn't exactly in my comfort zone, but it also deals with a paranormal event and the TV news business, so I can definitely handle the finer points of the latter. I got a little messy with defining my pseudo-religious "magic" system, so I certainly have some work to do when I hit revisions.

I'm about 73,000 words into it, which means I'm rounding third and heading for home on this novel. I'm fully aware that the book is a bit of a narrative mess at the moment. When I finish the first draft, I'll leave it alone for about a month, make some revisions to tie everything together, and send it off to Beta Reader Supreme.

A brutal Indiana winter meant a lot of writing time but little time to get out among the people. Thankfully, I was able to make it to a couple events recently.

That Book Place in Madison, Ind., holds its annual Authors Fair in March. I attended the event as an author for the first time. The place is usually jam-packed during this event, but the Milton-Madison Bridge linking Indiana to Kentucky was closed this year and you could definitely tell. It's still nice to meet a few people and mingle with other authors.

I went to Hanover College this weekend for the school's annual Geek-a-Thon. It's basically a small comic-con, and this year's theme was the very Crimsonstreak-friendly "DC vs. Marvel."

My wife made this lovely gift basket, which was available in a silent auction for charity.

We met several students and had a nice time hanging out with some of the other guests. Attendance was generally light, but I think it was worth the trip down there.

Between the two events, I made a few sales, met a lot of great people, and mingled with some author friends I haven't seen in a while. All worth it, in my book.

Crimsonstreaking in Madison... and eventually at Hanover College

I took my Crimsonstreaking act to Madison, Indiana, this weekend for the Fourth Annual Authors Fair presented by That Book Place.

I've been to the event before and it's usually pretty busy. Last-minute construction on the Milton-Madison Bridge certainly didn't help with foot traffic. I sold a few books, but the best part was talking to other authors and swapping stories.

A couple of big comic book fans also interviewed me...and things got awkward (in a good way!). They were excited that I'd written a superhero novel and had lots of questions about the book. Both of the interviewers decided to sit (or stand, more accurately) in on the interview until we realized it wasn't working very well. It's the same reason I loathe three-man booths in sports. Anyway, we dumped out of the interview and I did a one-on-one with one of the hosts. Both guys were good sports about the whole thing.

We're not done Crimsonstreaking in southern Indiana! On March 29 and (maybe) March 30, I'll be down at Hanover College for Geek-a-Thon, their version of Comic Con. They'll have panels, movies, games, and plenty of activities. Since the theme is "Marvel vs. DC," it's certainly an appropriate forum for Crimsonstreak and company.

Helmet courtesy Stuart Thaman
Thanks to all who put the event together. I'd also like everyone to know that my wife indeed got to eat at Frisch's Big Boy. She ordered the patty melt. She was very excited about that.