Winner, winner...
I finished a project today. I predicted I could bring it in at almost exactly 100,000 words, and I ended up hitting 101,234. I consider that more than close enough. You’d think I’ve done this more than a few times! Though in fairness, I have often wildly miscalculated and ended with books far, far too long for traditional publication.
This book is called The Breaking of the Vessels, and it’ll likely start making the rounds next month. I need to hear from my beta readers as they catch up and suggest adjustments that I believe will strengthen the final product before it can be submitted anywhere. I have never spent weeks or months editing material before getting it out there. Not because I think I’m a genius, but because I know what I write is the best I can write, and tinkering with it won’t make me any more talented.
What’s the book about? Well, the short version is that it’s about a marriage falling apart under the weight of apparent infidelity and the cascade of poor decisions that lead to divorce. I don’t think anyone’s going to come away from this one being mistaken about my feelings surrounding that practice.
If you’d like a sense of the book’s tone, check out the playlist I made for it. I listened to it often, along with Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks, during the writing process. Music is essential to me as a tool for focus and recovery. Maybe you’ll hear that.