The fifth book, The Lion, in my series tentatively titled The Zodiac Procession is finished.

Well, it’s finished in the sense of first draft finished.  I clocked in 76,000 words in 14 days.  I’ve had several friends tell me that writing that number of words in that few of days is not normal.  And I thought I was normal.  Huh.  News to me.

But besides the quick keying of the The Lion, the real experience was in the development of the story, the feeling of getting another novel under the invisible belt I wear at all times.  I hang the laurels I give myself for finishing each of my books there.  I don’t understand all this “getting things under belts” nonsense when we all know things dangle from belts.  Like books and shrunken heads and shark teeth.  Sometimes daisies.

I started recording plot notions for the fifth book in The Zodiac Procession series months ago, while I feverishly packed and worked to prep my home and my routine for skedaddling out of the country for two months.  Then I had bursts of ideas for the book that I’d record when I wasn’t frolicking in some gargantuan cave (the only types that allow for such merry skipping) or eating street noodles (made on the street, not of the street, well, made on a cart on a street.  Whoa, street is a really strange word.  Take a look at that one for a few minutes).  After I got back to the states in mid-winter, I felt antsy, ready to get to work on Leo’s cycle, put Peach and Riley and their strange fate-entwined story back in play.  But something wasn’t quite right yet.  So I let it rest, did some hot yoga, ate Taco Bell.  It was a goodly time.

Then, April hit.  That spring month that had that strange little proverb attached to it from grade school.  April: in like a lion, out like a lamb.  The lion was present.  No mistake about that.  That boisterous feline keep roaring in my head.  So I knew it was time to knock out the outline and get the book penned, or rather, typed.

I’m happy with how The Lion turned out.  People die.  There are decisions made.  I don’t know.  I can’t really remember what it’s about (just kidding).  But my brain is pointed towards The Virgin now, as much as a brain has the ability to maneuver in a cardinal direction towards an ephemeral concept.  I might do some research for The Virgin.  Hit up an interview session with an actual virgin.  Now I just have to figure out where to find such a mythical creature…

The Lion is book five in this saga of twelve.  The Zodiac Procession is coated in myth and murder, layered with astrology and ritual, all packaged together in a tightly paced plot explosion.  And I’m happy to report that The Lion is keeping pace with its predecessors.