I’m so happy!  Last night I finished the first draft of my second Hestia novel!  The process was exhausting, but I’m happy I’ve reached that first milestone.

I enjoy learning more about writing and the different guidelines, rules, tips, tricks, genres, formats, etc.  For this novel I decided it would be fun to flesh things out a bit more and taking a cue from the “Epic Fantasy” genre, I decided I would give the secondary characters their own story arcs.  This was great fun, and given how colorful some of the characters are (Lupin and Diana) it was very natural to let them get some more time on the page.

That, combined with the main story arc, ended up making a larger book.  Just over 140,000 words.  While that’s on the low-end for adult Epic Fantasy, it’s over three times the size for the typical MG novel.  This begs the question, “Who is my audience?”  While I wrote specifically for middle-school aged children, the best, most enthusiastic reviews I’ve received came from a 17 year old and a 60 year old.  Ultimately, what will weigh heaviest in my decision is, “What will put this book into the hands of the most readers?”

But that’s a decision I can kick down the road for now.  I still have the long process of going through the various phases of editing, creating covers, formatting and trying to get the book uploaded for purchase without the Amazon gremlins wreaking havoc…