I feel good

It’s always a rush when I’m so charged up writing a story that I work extra. I was so close to finishing the revised draft of Impossible Takes a Little Longer, I kept working about 40 minutes after I’d intended to knock off.
I feel very pleased with the rewrite. The updating from 1995 works well, the villain’s motivation makes more sense (I may shift around some of the exposition though) and the final battle flows better than I’d hoped. Next up: A reread for any huge errors, then show it to the writing group. Then a rewrite to tidy things up and fix any problems they find. And a final going over in hard copy some time late next spring, then off.
Brain From Outer Space isn’t as far along, but I read over my outline for the next draft and I like it. I’ve fixed most of my plot problems, and several changes I wasn’t sure would work now look pretty good. I’m still not completely satisfied with the ending——it feels as if we shoot from slow building tension to alien invasion in a matter of pages——but I think it’s something I’ll have to work out in the writing.
This month, I’ll start the actual rewrite. Then a break, then a rewrite to flesh out dialogue, fifties details, set descriptions, etc. Then show it to the writer’s group, then a hard-copy reading. Knock wood, a little over a year from now I’ll finally put it to bed.
And that’s pretty much all of note this week (for obvious reasons, no time to do short stories this week). But it’s a good note to close on.
Oh, plus I got my first royalty check from McFarland for the new book. Not going to make me a millionaire, of course, but I’m satisfied that I’ve now made more money than it cost me for the photo stills I bought for illustrations. From now on, it’s all profit.