First Draft Completed

On June 21, I sent out a teaser about my next book. I have an update.

I began my first novel two years ago, while in Siberia traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. During the trip we visited an enclave of Old Believers, adherents to the original Russian Orthodox faith. This sect serves as the source of inspiration for one of the groups in my book.

How did the concept begin? I wrote a short story in response to DJ Cooper’s prompt to use five key words to write a piece for Apocalyptic Winter: An Angry Eagle Anthology. But then I realized I had broken a cardinal writing rule “show don’t tell” and even more, I decided there was so much more to say about the subject at hand.

When I returned from my travels, I set out on another journey. I embarked upon writing my first fiction novel, my own post-apocalyptic tale. In the spirit of full disclosure, I spoke with DJ about my concept and asked her permission to proceed. She agreed, and in fact was enthusiastic about my plot line.

Now, almost two years to the date, I’ve completed my first draft. I will go through the process of running it through Grammarly to look for glaring errors, then it’s off to the Beta readers. Next, it will return to me for a second, maybe third draft, before I send it to DJ Cooper, who has agreed to be my editor. It has come full circle.