Chapters 38, 39, and 40... Plus "Crash and Burn" Finale

It's been another awesome writing week for me... I had only one day to work on new material for NR, but it was another VERY productive day... Despite the fact I felt like I had distractions galore even being offline!
Friday, after I started calming down from seeing my beloved mentor finally reach her dream of becoming a published author, I dove into NR with a vengeance! I had been having problems on how to get past a roadblock I had hit while trying to think of how to wrap up Chapter 38 earlier last week but took a couple of days off from it all and by the time Friday morning rolled around, I had a good idea of where I was going to go in the final scene of that Chapter.
Once I had that written up, things progressed quickly... Chapter 39 started off a little slow but things in the story REALLY get interesting during the last half of it... The finale of "Crash and Burn" finally happens and there are a number of interesting surprises in it, a few twists and turns... It's very rough right now but that will change when I get a chance to go over it with a fine toothed comb!
Since I wasn't quite finished with the latter half of Chapter 39 by the time my son got home, so I worked on that while he was playing video games in the living room. It took me an extra two hours to finish it but the end result is close to what I wanted in the first draft. (He was awesome and VERY good!) 
I was still on the "writing high" that night so after the guys went to bed, I dove right into Chapter 40 and worked on that between talking to various friends in Facebook and Sanctuary, while sharing links to where everyone can pick up their own copy of "Keyholder's Castle: Homecoming" (my mentor's first novel!) and letting people know just how great of a writer my mentor is (I was lucky enough to get a prescreening copy, so yeah, I DO know she's awesome!) and keeping an eye on Sanctuary and the various pages I run in Facebook.
Chapter 40 is basically the "aftermath" of something big that comes out in "Crash and Burn"... There is a little humor, a BIG bawling out and a few other things. I've already hinted on this particular thing in other chapters before it but it really doesn't come out until this point.
Here's a copy of my post in my Writing Thread from Sanctuary, posted on Friday, October 12 at around 7 p.m. Atlantic time...

As I said in the current What's Happening thread (number XXX), I managed to wrap up Chapter 38, start Chapter 39 and finish that one too... I was about 3/4 of the way through that chapter when I had to go get Son... But I told him to be good for a while, I wanted to finish the scene I was working on. He was AWESOME! He only disturbed me a few times... Dragon's Den was on twice in a row (same epi, different time zones, we have satellite TV), that's one of his favorite shows. LOL I wrapped up the writing for the day just over 2 hours ago and am still quite wonky from it.   

TECHNICALLY, I "could" end the story here and go into the epilogue....  

BUT...  

There are a few things from Part 1 that were NOT fully tied up yet and I still have to show reactions to "Chapter 39". Heh.  So, I'm thinking at least another 3 to five chapters, TOPS, before the grande finale and epilogue.

Hubby works THREE day shifts next week... So y'all KNOW what this chickie will be doing all three days! Maybe, just maybe with a little luck (Looks upward and prays to the Divine!), I MAY get this darn first draft done within the next few weeks!

When I do finish draft 1, the scream of victory will be heard round the world... And probably by anyone who is traveling by the Oort Cloud... Hehehehehe... 

As y'all can see, I could have easily ended the story at the end of Chapter 39 and went into the epilogue, but there are a few things left over from Part 1 of the story and a couple of things from Part 2 that need to be wrapped up and a few more lessons learned by the main characters. So, I'll be working on that this coming week during the three days I'll have to write.

With a little luck, some help from the divines out there, lots of coffee and cigarettes, and plenty of hours to think and write, I MAY have the first draft of this story completed by the end of the year... I HOPE SO at least. It would be nice to start working on Draft 2 of it very soon, which would mean I'm closer to sending it out to various publishers (both traditional and e-publishers!) and one more step closer to my dream of being a published author!

I hope all of you out there have a wonderful Sunday! Much love and CONGRATULATIONS to my mentor, Sandra, on finally becoming a published author!