First off, Towers of Midnight . The progress bar has been stopped at 82% for about two months now. Why is that? Well, mid-to-late December, two things happened. First, I decided that I couldn’t work any further on new material for Towers until I did some substantial rewrites to the book. This happens frequently with my novels; it’s not something to worry about. I did this twice on Hero of Ages . The more complex the book and the series, the more often I find myself doing midbook refining drafts like this one, making certain I’ve got the voice, motivations, and plot sequences right.
Towers of Midnight is going very well. I’m very pleased with how it’s turning out, and I’m confident it will be ready in time for a release later this year as promised. It will be longer than The Gathering Storm , which is another reason the progress bar stopped. I’m just not sure how long the book will end up being, so a percentage is harder to judge right now. The actual length of the book right now—after putting together all the pieces I’ve been working on over the last six months—comes to 291,294 words. The Gathering Storm was around 300,000 words. I estimate this one at around 320,000 or so after revisions and edits. (It might get as high as 350,000, then get sliced back down. I always trim a lot off books in later drafts when I tighten up the language.)
I figured that since I was doing revisions, and since getting to “100%” at 300,000 words would give the wrong impression, I’d just let the progress bar sit for a time. As long as I turn in the book by this summer, it will still be ready for a late fall release. So there’s no need for anyone to panic yet.
I’m afraid I can’t say much about what I’m working on in the book. Out of respect for Harriet’s wishes, I need to remain tight-lipped. I know it’s not very satisfying to hear, “All is well, please keep waiting.” But . . . all is well, please keep waiting.
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