So … just minutes ago, I typed out the final line of Shadow of an Empire.

That’s right. It’s done. After 14 straight hours of writing (one hour of which was finishing this week’s BaBW) and 13,000 words, Shadow of an Empire is officially a complete Alpha 1 draft.

Tomorrow, I will celebrate. Sands, I’ll do that right now! But it’s finally DONE!

So, some final numbers for those curious.

Final Wordcount: 254,272 words. 1,392,081 characters. 17,176 lines of text, with 6,348 paragraphs. Calculated out, that gives a rough page estimate of somewhere between 769 pages (using Amazon’s rough estimate) to 1,016 (using a different publisher’s estimate).

Timecount: I started midway into March, so … five months. Which is a little slower than average for me (but still above and beyond most writers; I may just be a little proud of this), but considering I’ve had a second, part-time job for three of those months, this is still pretty good. That’s an average of 14,100 words per week (again, with a second job; boo-yah!). I have no idea how many hours were spent at this. I almost don’t want to know.

Release window: And now the kicker. Here’s the goal: This year, before Thankgiving.

Tough? Sands, yes. But as of right now, I’m not starting any new writing projects (which would be Jungle, for those curious) until I get first Colony and then Shadow of an Empire released. Which means starting Thursday (tomorrow I celebrate), I plan hit Colony like a truck and go until it’s done. Alpha 2? Done. Beta 1? Done. Beta 2? Done … and publish!

Anyway, my hands hurt, so I’ll give you more updates as they come!