One day I’ll write a longer post mortem on the first novel, because the evolution of this thing was pretty drastic and was written during a very calamitous time in my life.

So many times I wanted to throw it away. So many times I just had to put it down for months at a time. It’s honestly a miracle I’ve even made it this far.

And a few times I ended up finishing smaller but still big projects while trying to avoid the one hard thing.

The first draft is not done yet—mainly because I want my first draft to be mostly complete. I know that’s not the “standard way”, or whatever, but that’s how I write, and if I’ve learned anything writing this novel, it’s that your unconscious knows better than you do about how you should write. Listen to it.

I’m very close, and now with the novella done, Ashes to the Sea will get its due attention. Let’s see where it goes.