Ron: Done

And with that, I’ve finished draft 3 of Ron the Body.
Good. It doesn’t feel any different to knocking off any other bit of work – I know from experience it takes a while to sink in, and there’s still a bunch of reformatting, spellchecking, etc to do before I can truly put it in the finished file. Not to mention a bit of punching up the synopsis and cover letter when I get pitching the damn thing again.
I slipped about a month over deadline on this. Not too bad, in the grand scheme of things.
Best of all, it feels like Ron is done this time. Sure, I could go back and do another draft – it isn’t perfect. Nothing ever gets to perfect. But what I have now is a draft I’m happy with and proud of and, most importantly, that I think is publishable. Just got to find the right publisher, namely one who thinks the same.
So, yes, it’s good. I’ve had versions of this moment twice before – finishing draft one in ’06, and finishing draft two in ’07. Both those times I knew there was more work to do. Right now, looking at those final words? I’m done.
I love the final words of Ron. I remember exactly where I was when they came to me – sitting on a rock formation in Wadi Rum, in Jordan, looking at the sandy desert and the blue sky. They were the perfect words to end the book, and they’ve stayed unchanged through all three drafts. They’re probably my favourite words in the whole thing. It’s good to see them again.
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Other writing-ish things:
1) Unearthly: Cosmic Heroes, an RPG supplement for superhero gaming, has garnered another review in the last month, this time a nice five-star bit. I’m pleased. I don’t have much time for the freelance writing at the moment, so it’s good to see this is still getting sales and good responses.
2) Oddly enough, I am a featured interviewee in issue 26 of Doctor Who fanzine RTP. I still haven’t got around to organising myself a copy, but it is mentioned in the Zeus Blog issue review: “Speaking of intelligent opinion, the Morgan Davie interview…” *blushes*
3) I’ve picked up another freelance writing contract with local computer games company Sidhe Interactive… last time it was writing spot dialogue for the new movie-based Speed Racer game (I’m finally confirming this now, I figure the NDA won’t kick my arse now the game is actually on release in the US!), this time it’s another project that I also can’t talk about, but promises to muchas super fun.
4) The 48 Hour Film Fest is here again, and this Friday I’m saddling up the ol’ laptop and rocking along to join the elite writing team of doom. This time we’re gonna break the 48 entirely. It’s gonna rock. I direct your attention to the team’s 2006 entry, Monster Hunter Iv: Beyond Repair (cowritten by me and with me in a prominent acting role as well):

And the even-better 2007 entry, Destination Earth, in which I held a flecky board and carried things around the set because that’s hella important too:

Enough of this madness. Now to do the sleeping thing.