Wait. *What*?

I've been gearing up for this for so long, and then the past four days have been so hectic, stressful and weird ... that it snuck on me.

I just typed the last sentence of Scylla and Charybdis.

Let's repeat that. I just typed the last sentence of Scylla and Charybdis!

Holy mackerel.

Now for the insanity: 161k (that's 161,000 words) and a little change ... which, actually, is about where I was estimating it would come in back when I had just gotten Anaea and Gwydion off the starting space station and out into the wider galaxy, even though the structure changed some since then. Which means that my goal in editing is to shave off somewhere between 30 - 40k.

I will take serious looks at cutting subplots and potentially Penelope, the pet kearl who spends the whole novel with the MC. I love the "character" ... but as I was writing, I kept consistently having to write / plot / manuever around her. "Okay, they can run to ... crap. They have to bring Penelope."

All is not bleak! There is hope (and lots of too-fatty description, I already know that). We shall see.