Guess what you guys! In addition to going to Comic-Con and having an awesome time over the weekend (pictures can be found at http://www.facebook.com/marissameyerauthor), I finished the second draft of Book Three: CRESS last week!

It is always an enormous relief to finish a draft. Not that there aren’t still massive amounts of revision and editing to do, but it’s nice to look back and see how much progress I’ve made and how much closer I am to having a finished book. I always feel invigorated to dive back in and start mucking around with characters and plot twists and see what I can do next to make the book Even Better!

But, I also recognize the importance of stepping back and letting it all jibe for a while, so I’m using this week to play catch up on promotional projects and write another Lunar Chronicles prequel that you’ll all be able to read prior to the release of Book Two: SCARLET. (Yay!)

Here are some stats on this draft of CRESS.

Time it took to write: 14 weeks

Total word count: 110,868

Words saved from Draft #1: estimated 15,000

Total number of chapters: 51

Number of chapters that already contain revision notes: 31

Number of scenes skipped: 3 (all energy-draining fight scenes)

Most overused words: back (387), could (361), just (290), eyes (235), and head (229). (Via http://www.writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp.)

Some things I need to research for the next draft: stem cell research, agoraphobia, orbital patterns of man-made satellites, symptoms of heat stroke

Current opening sentences: “Her satellite orbited Earth once every forty-eight hours. For almost twelve of these, the moon could be seen through the window above her bed. These were her nightmare hours.”