It's 12:49. Word count is 101,390. Rough draft is officially finished.

ALMOST THERE . . .

Yes, Dana, I finally made it through the rescue scene. Jaclyn and Brewer have made it safely out of the underground passage, finally. My rough draft sits at 99,442 words and I am one or two chapters short of finishing, which I intend to do today. Then I will begin the editing process.

I'm incorporating a priceless relic from Jaclyn's collection into the scene where a bomb is discovered, left in the tunnel by Jaclyn's evil cousin, now an escaped prisoner, who has held Jaclyn hostage deep within the tunnel. Brewer doesn't have the expertise or the time to difuse the device, and the plan is to keep the wireless detonator from being triggered by the remote device carried by the bad guy, who has managed to elude capture. The relic is a small bronze trunk adorned with gold and semi-precious stones which had once held love letters from a man to his betrothed. (I have to figure out which century the trunk is from, and want to have the man be some historical figure.) They place the satchel containing the explosives inside the trunk, and because it is lined with lead the signal to detonate the bomb will not reach the detonator, thus allowing Brewer to rescue Jaclyn from the tunnel and carry her off to safety. Whew.

Any ideas on who the historical figure could be? A warrior or soldier of some kind was my first inclination. Thank goodness I finally discovered I'm not a plotter. Otherwise I'd have to figure this out before I finish the rough draft.

August 25 is the date of my next cake. So for the next month I'll be catching up on all the things I've neglected since April, plus beginning a new Monday habit. Dana and I met at Starbucks yesterday where we sat with out laptops. For almost three hours. Had a blast. And Dana treated me to a Caramel Apple Cider. Yummy. (Next week is my treat, Dana.) Yet another reason to look forward to Mondays. It's wonderful to have the time to spend with my friends and actually write again The plotting party we attended at Julia's place near Quartz Mountain inspired me to get this WIP finished so I can begin On A Clear Day, which Betty, Sheila and Dana helped me plot. I knew the basic story, but wasn't sure how to tell it so the reader didn't have too much information too soon. Had a great time. Heard some funneee stories. Can't wait to do this again.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!

Say a prayer for all our soldiers putting their lives on the line for freedom.