So guess what? It has been over a year since our last blog post and admittedly it's because of my lackadaisical nature that there hasn't been one. Maybe at one point it seemed like this genius idea to have a blog where we can formulate our ideas and sketch them out on this blank sheet so that you The Reader could follow our writing process and dream as we do. The truth of that is: What's more important? A consistent blog about the little ruminations of our daily lives or me sitting down with our enormous and at times unruly book to actually get words on the page? The answer is clear to me. So I let the blog suffer in favor of exactly that... I would like that this yearly check in was to tell you that of course our book is finished, and that of course it's perfect and flawless and not at all a rough draft anymore. Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances, a small measure of laziness, and the consistent pressure of work and school, that indeed the book isn't quite finished.
But.
We are extremely close to finishing the book and winding down on it. There are about eight hundred pages thus far and two-hundred thirty seven thousand words...which to those of you of a younger age that is just a tad short of Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix, and to you who are a little older it is the size of two Return of the Kings. And for the more prolific readers among us it is basically the length of Winter's Heart, the ninth book in the massive Wheel of Time series. I could go all day with comparisons in length to books of esteemed genius, but that would bore you all to tears. The writing process is going as smoothly as can be with the business of Summer. Conventions, camps, Watersmeet drawing close, etc, all of which prove to be big distractions. In some cases these distractions are very good. That way in this effort filled construction of an imaginary world we do not lose sight of our Muse. God the Father. It has been exceptionally easy to do just that, to give my sheets of paper a crown and focus all my attention on it to the point where I live and breath Rumors of War. The fictional characters within becoming as real to me as real-life companions, but that's the way to destruction for once we have stepped away from it all, an obsession of that level is healthy for no one. A sheet of paper can burn in a fire, or be shredded by a pair of scissors. God, fortunately, is around consistently and can't fail us.
Anyway old friends, who some have asked "So you guys done with that book yet" this is my update to you and all. Maybe when I check in another year from now the book will already be on the shelves. Lord willing;)
With hope and Prayer,
Drew Helmes
