The first draft of Book 3 of The Last Elf Series, The Gathering Fails, continues to grow.

As some of you realize, the first 2 books came in under 90k words in 52 chapters. (BTW, exact word count and total # of chapters must always be divisible by 13).

After outlining Book 3, I surrendered to the fact that Chork and friends were pushing for more. So, I set my sights on a final length of ~100k words in 65 chapters.

Alas, I failed. This morning’s first-draft projection is clocking in at just over 121k words in 78 chapters.

But, it’s not my fault!

New characters abound, and they clamor for attention. At every turn, Emperor Rhince’s minions wreak havoc on the realms of Brehm, and they demand history record their accomplishments.

Maybe as usual, the second draft will remove at least 10% of the word count. However, elves, dwarves, mages, and sorcerers can be very adamant about their page counts. (Not to mention, that sandwich maker and those two assassins who will chirp like baby birds at feeding time).

What’s an author to do but give in and lay that heavy manuscript on his editor’s doorstep. (I see a craft-beer sodden meeting in my near future).

Of course, the plan still calls for the release of The Gathering Fails in early 2019.

But tell me, what’s your definition of early?