Words: 9,016.
Total words: 34,663.
Reason for stopping: Bedtime.
The cats: Alice, floor; Lilly, bed; Thomas, kitchen sink (literally).
Music: random shuffle, the Counting Crows.

9,000 words is a respectable day, even if it's several thousand words shy of yesterday, which was, let's face it, some kind of horrifying cosmic anomaly. I mean, no matter how you slice it, I just added 20,000+ words to this book in a single weekend, which means that most of the Machete Squad is probably going to want to bludgeon me to death when they open their email. Heh heh heh.

I'm trucking merrily along on this book, and the speed has helped to quell the freefall feeling of not knowing what in the hell I'm doing. I'm not supposed to know what in the hell I'm doing at this stage; that's what first drafts are for. The Squad will point out my rough spots, and I will fix them, and in the meantime, I could literally finish draft one by August first if I was able to continue at this pace. I can't, and I won't, but wow. It's really awesome to be in this position.

I was telling Brooke yesterday that it's weird to be in the books where things are starting to pay off. And it is weird. But it's also amazing.

I am so excited.

The random number generator has spoken, and ravenclawed, you are the winner of an ARC of Ashes of Honor!

Please email me via my website contact form within the next 24 hours. If I do not have an email from you by this time tomorrow night, I will choose a new winner.

Thanks to everyone who participated, and there will be more giveaways to come!