At the start of the year, in a post about the Lilly Phillps controversy, I mentioned wanting to broaden the scope of this blog beyond A Healing Love updates.
Well, aside from my initial experiments with AI tools like Gemini (which has since become invaluable in crafting this story), I haven’t exactly branched out. But honestly, that’s because I’m on such a roll with the book, that I don’t want to break my stride.
And today is no exception.
Chapter 31 hit Ream Stories earlier today, and guess what? Chapter 32 is already in the can! I’ll let Chapter 31 simmer for a few days before unleashing Chapter 32 upon the world.
I’m thrilled with how the last few chapters have turned out. I feel like I’m successfully juggling the three narrative threads, two of which will weave their way into the fifth book of the series. The manuscript now stands at a hefty 143,500 words, and while my last estimate was between 150,000 and 170,000, I’m leaning towards the higher end at this pace.
Looking at the calendar I’ve planned for the rest of the book, I have seven significant events to cover. Not all of them will necessarily warrant their own chapter, though. For instance, the next “big” event might not need a full chapter. It could easily form the opening scene of a chapter focused on the following big event. And that event? Well, that one might require two chapters to truly do it justice.
The next two events unfold over the same weekend. Both are significant, but one is, in a way, a larger-scale repeat of something that’s happened a few times in the narrative already. The second event of the weekend will be unique in some ways and familiar in others.
Again, I could squeeze the whole weekend into one chapter, but I might need two.
The two events after that could be combined into one chapter, but thematically, they’re quite different, so splitting them into two chapters might be the better approach.
And then, of course, there’s the climax. I’m not going to rush this. I’ll dedicate as many chapters and words as it takes to get it right.
So, yeah, we’re getting there. Faster than I anticipated, actually, although that could change at any moment. Especially now that I’m staring at a blank page with “Chapter 33” at the top. The adventure continues!
