By finished, I mean a first draft. But hey, after three years of working on it, that feels like a major accomplishment. The first draft came in at just over 100,000 words.

I have another project to get back to before I begin the revision process on Nadia’s Children, but I thought I’d say a few words about this fourth book in The Werewolf Saga since it’s so freshly minted.

First of all, many, many, many thanks to the readers who have read the previous books and have followed this blog and Facebook waiting for news about the new book. Your support means more than you’ll probably ever know.

There were several challenges to writing this book. The biggest challenge is a spoiler I won’t discuss now because it would give away the ending. Some of the others included:

• What to do about Ulrik, who was so desperately wounded at the end of the last book?
• Is Fenris all evil? In Ulrik he seemed almost as cartoonish as a 1980s action movie villain. Who is he, really? And what is his motivation?
• What is Joey’s role now?
• Will Shara become the strong woman she has shown she can be, or will her weaker side win out?
• Managing the sheer number of people who have come and gone during the course of this series.

All of these things have been addressed in this book, at least to some degree. Well, except that last one. I provided books to someone who was going to create a database for me, but when her computer crashed she gave up on the project, so that’s something I may end up doing myself.

I was glad to get the chance to flesh out Fenris and see what he’s really all about. He turned out to be a fun guy to work with. He becomes a man with a history, a mission, and a multi-faceted personality. The painting I’ve included here is Ernest Wallcousin’s Hundingsbane’s Return to Valhal, something that is important to Fenris.

One thing that developed as I wrote was a conflict of Fenris and his patriarchal belief system versus Cerdwyn and her matriarchal religious beliefs. Cerdwyn is new to the books, but if you’ve poked around The Werewolf Saga tab (or the old Web site) you’ve seen her name before. She became a much more important figure than I would have guessed when she first showed up.

The temptation to wax melodramatic and say things that might be spoilers is too strong, so I’ll end this here. The draft is done. Hopefully the book will be in your hands in 2012. I’m sorry for the wait.