The image above consists of two folders.  The lower, thicker folder is filled with all 8 drafts of Corrosive Knights Book #6, whose cover (but not title, not yet anyway!) will look like this:

My update today is this: I’m done with draft #8, which I started on April 7, so it took me just a little over one month to read that latest draft, make revisions by pen, then transfer said revisions to the computer.

Once done this morning, I printed out the new draft, #9, and intend to start reading/revising it by either later today or tomorrow.  Draft #9 is within that smaller blue folder on top of the thicker one filled with older drafts.

So, where does book #6 stand as of today?  There’s good news to relate along with a bit of bad news.

First the good: I think I’ve nailed the book’s plot down completely.  As of this draft the book runs a very healthy 102,817 words long though it is possible/likely when I finish the revisions to come (I’ll get to that in a moment) that number will go downwards.

Again, the story is pretty much all there, which is an incredibly big step toward its completion.

Now the (somewhat) bad: I did add a bit of stuff to the book this previous go-around, especially towards the novel’s conclusion and this will need revision and its why I suspect the word count will drop.  I have a very bad habit of repeating things and have to catch myself and make sure I do this as little as possible.

The second somewhat bad thing is that I feel this novel will require two more full revisions and perhaps another couple of smaller, targeted revisions focused on those elements I added last.  If I don’t do them right, the book will fail.

So, it took me approximately one month to do this revision, a rather short period of time and I suspect subsequent revisions will take even less time, provided I’m not busy doing other things.  Unfortunately summer is just about upon us and at least two of the next three weekends will be swamped for me.

If I had to make a guess as to when the book will be done and considering my very bad previous predictions (I had hoped to finish the book in February, then May…I really should retire from the business of making predictions), it is conceivable the book will be ready around August.

But, again, this is pure guesswork on my part.

Regardless, book #6 in the Corrosive Knights series is moving along very well and I couldn’t be happier with the story told.  It will make for another great piece of the series and trust me when I say I’m incredibly eager to get it released.

Soon, my friends.

Soon.