Writing, Writing, Writing- and Progress

I've been getting a lot of writing done during the past few weeks. I've been working on editing what started out as my 2008 National Writing Month project. Yes, I know, that's a long time ago. But it sat for a few years because I just couldn't face it for a long time. I'd pick at it a bit here and there, but never seemed to be able to really dig into it and get any real work done. Earlier this year, I printed the whole thing out and read through it. I realized at that point that I still like the story. And I decided to really put some effort into it. It was slow going for a while, but then I seemed to find a rhythm. It's been coming together pretty decently now.

What is it? If I had to put a category on it, I guess I'd call it occult fantasy. It's set in the mountains here in NH, at a fictional archeological dig. There's a demon about to be awakened, and some bits of ritual type magic. The working title is Demon Stone. The basic idea of it came a number of years ago when I saw an article about some pottery shards that were dug up in another country that had paintings of a wolf-headed god-figure on them. The images sort of sat in the back of my mind for a few years until I started thinking about NaNoWriMo in 2008.

I'm not at all thinking it's "almost done" or anything like that. What I had written up to the point of starting to work in earnest on it again was messy and incomplete. There were sections that were out of place, plot holes that needed fixing, and just a lot of filling in to do. Not to mention, the ending needed writing, since what I had was pretty much a case of "and then we get to the big confrontation and stuff happens." Not exactly complete or wrapped up.

I should get the first draft revisions done this week. I have to fill in some detail in the beginning, and there are a handful of scenes that need looking at. It's almost there, and I feel better about it overall. Then what? I will print and read again, and begin looking for a couple of people to give it a good critique reading, since I know there will be things I have missed. And I start on the second round of revisions, which (in theory) should go somewhat more quickly. It will still be a while before I can call it finished, and I'm not really thinking about what happens at that point. Not yet. There is still a lot of work ahead.

For now, I'm happy with the progress I've made, and I still like the story. And that alone is a good thing.