Yes, at just before midnight last night I typed in those two little words a novelist takes so long to get to. Phew! Darx Circle has at last been converted from an unfinished manuscript to another completed fantasy.
The ending carried me forward in a rush of excitement, and I hope readers will find it does the same for them once the long and painful processes which need to follow are completed.
First indications are good – my staunch supporter but fearless critic, Much Better Half, was most enthusiastic in her comments after finishing it today.
I wrote some of it yesterday before going to Point Watersports Clubs to watch the Durban Sky Grand Prix of Aerobatics – sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Bobbing in the waves and watching aircraft fling themselves all over the sky is certainly another kind of novel experience! Above is 5-yr-old R declaring, ‘I love swimming in the sea!’ This part has the old pier as a breakwater, unlike the vicious surf we get on our home beach.
We had enjoyed a preview of a lot of it the day before, when a number of pilots chose to practise over the sea directly in front of our home.
The Saab Gripen certainly makes a lot of noise flying low directly overhead, as one of them did as we arrived. We overheard one man on the beach saying, ‘I kakked myself!’ (Which is a fairly crude South African way of indicating that one has defecated in one’s pants.) The grandkids certainly didn’t enjoy that part much. The tiny dot is what it becomes by the time one lifts a camera.
Anyway, after returning I buckled down and added the final 3,500 words for a completed total length now of 129,275 words. That may well be pruned, of course, but I hope not.
Colonialist March 2014 (WordPress)
Colonialist's Blog 
Congratulations! Can’t wait to read it!
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Thanks! It will still be some time. On going into the editing stage, I have just discovered, for one thing, that I need to eliminate dozens of unnecessary ‘seem/s’. Funny how one tends to work certain words to death! In my first book it was the word ‘very’. I had become blind to its repetition.
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Haha. That is a very good observation. I think I do it too. Maybe with the word ‘like’ or well, I’m sure I’ll find stuff like that. As long as you’re not asked to axe a few chapters, you’re good to go.
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very well done, an achievement for sure
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Thanks – it is a good feeling to find out what happens. Then the grind part starts, alas.
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A hearty Congrats and huge pat on the back for all your work!!
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Thank you very kindly!
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Congratulations, Col! Well, I never thought the day would come when I would read Science Fiction, but it has arrived. The first book I read was, to me, superb. The second, not so good, but still enjoyable. I am (almost) a fan.
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There is, of course, a difference in Science Fiction (Arthur C Clark et al) or Fantasy (Terry Pratchett, Tolkein et al). Mine are definintely in the Fantasy genre.
The only trouble about SF is that science catches up with it. Some of the most wonderful concepts in early SF have far more impressive realities in place today. Cellular phones, iPads etc for example.
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Congratulations and Jubilations!
I remember the pilots using the skies further south to practice their skills.
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Thank you!
They do tend to get around!
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I am sure it’s going to be a best-seller Col and it’s great that you have better half there to cheer you on. Love the photo’s and it sure looks like R enjoy the water very much. 😀
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She is a real water baby!
Thanks for visit!
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Congratulations. An epic word count indeed *claps excitedly*
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It certainly does go a bit over the recommended limit of many writing schools, of 80,000!
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But sometimes a story won’t confine itself to arbitrary limits
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I think that one has been set for lazy readers, anyway.
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congrats on this massive word count,, I do like the way you start off a post about the subject and wander off but maintain the subject in the back ground and peoples interest.. 😉 I hope this makes sense..
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I take it as a flattering compliment! Thanks.
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Congratulations – 129,000 words is a lot of hard work….
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Thanks – it was, especially all in a rush, like!
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woohoo good on you 😀
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Thank you-hoo!
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Woot woot! And those are some great jet shots. Those things are not easy to photograph.
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Particularly with a cellphone camera, which, sadly, is all I have now which still works..
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It’s always a good feeling when you finish something that you set out to do. I’m sure it will be a great read!
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It is a great feeling, but then one starts finding the loose shoelaces and starts hoping it isn’t a centipede …
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Hmm, what were those “two little words”? I’m bushed (yes, technically I know that’s three) or H-e-l-p m-e or even Blistered fingers? But if they’re The End then Hearty congrats are my two little words.
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They were ‘The End’, and thanks!
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Well done..the beginnings of the making of a millionaire
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That would indeed be rather nice.
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Mille félicitations. Fantasy is not really my genre, but I will make an exception for yours when it appears. Or do I need to start at the beginning of a series?
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Thanks!
No, not a sequel, and similar to previous ones only in a ‘Magic Circle’ theme. I hope and trust you will find this has a depth which makes it worthwhile when it comes out. It is actually a new departure for me, in a way – I would say it is only suitable for Young Adult/Adult, whereas even my fairly sophisticated Forest Circle Quest is still being understood and enjoyed by nearly-six R.
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