Wrote the final chapter of Lucifer's Forge and then the epilogue.

Used about half of what I'd already written. It turned out well, though I do like the previous chapter slightly more.  Now all that remains to be written is the first chapter. It's a good feeling. The book is ready even if I got hit by a truck tomorrow. 

As I've mentioned, I intend to read "Young Men and Fire" by Norman Maclean, soak it up, and then write the first chapter. I want it to be as powerful as I can make it.

Then the whole book will need more of a rewrite than usual. I like the plot and the characters just fine, but there is so much detail that needs to be gotten right that it is going to require a lot of research.

I have a large number of characters and settings, but I have no trouble keeping track of them in my head, and my feeling is that if I can do that, then the reader--with the book in front of them-- can keep up too. I hope.

I also need to figure out the correct time and space line. Then, finally, I need to decide what to do with the finished novel.

It will be a good book, by my lights, if I can make it convincing in the rewrites.  Maybe my best.  It kills me that maybe no one will read it. But I gotta be honest here. I really don't like agents, but without an agent I have no real chance of selling this book.

Now that I'm finished, I've decided to keep it a straight thriller. No fantasy elements. I'd been reserving that if I came up short--not that fantasy makes it better, but that it gives me new energy.

But I like the book the way it is.

So...its a good book whether anyone reads it or not. Maybe I'll be satisfied with that self-knowledge.

I don't know. Obviously, it's frustrating.