Crawling towards the end...

Alessandro and Rachel's story is progressing quite nicely. I've written over 28 k in the last month and am finally in the home stretch. 3-4 more chapters to go and I will be done. Surprisingly, I wrote the synopsis once I was half way through and for the first time, didn't totally hate it and even think that the end product might not be so bad.

Delusional, moi? No way.

As with every story that I'm working on at a given time, I think this is my strongest story ever, even in the crappy first draft form. No, seriously... And I think it might be because I had a very strong grip on my characters and their internal conflicts when I began. Instead of going exploring in the first draft, I started with something substantial in mind and then let the story take me away.

I love my current hero, Alessandro. He's the most honorable guy I've ever written. And I know, I know, :-), I probably think that about every hero I write too, but I know that Alessandro will have a special place always in my heart.

He's right up there with the best of guys, recognizing the heroine, Rachel for the remarkable woman she is the moment he meets her. And it's his own code of honor that stops him from taking what he wants with a ferocity that surprises him for the first time in his life. He has fought the desire he feels for her with every ounce of control he possesses, but has finally given in and oh, how spectacular he finds it to give in.

And now, he's fiercely fighting to keep her in his life, but she won't stay, not with what he has to offer.

And this is where I'm in the story. But for some reason, I have lost a little momentum this past week. Or actually I know why I lost it. Every scene that's coming next is intensely emotional for both my characters and I think I'm feeling the pressure to deliver that emotion, knowing that I have to put them through a wringer for them to truly realize what they mean to each other. The black moment is coming and it ain't going to be pretty.

Here's a little more about what's coming:

Alessandro is feeling his control slip, nothing he does so far is convincing Rachel to stay with him. For a really smart and calculating person, he doesn't see the futility of his actions. He does everything in his power to keep her in his life except the one thing he should be doing- letting go of the tight fist with which he rules his emotions and sharing his darkest fear. Gripped by the same emotions he very much detests, he's failing to see that the reason he wants Rachel in his life permanently- because she is a remarkable woman who sets his fire on blood, is also the very reason why she won't fall for his elaborate gestures, won't settle for anything less than what she deserves.

In his desperation, he's finally taking the step that goes against every fiber of his nature, the step that will break the heart of the woman he desperately wants to make happy.

He doesn't see that he's already fallen in love with her, that he has already lost the battle with himself and all he needs to do is open himself to those emotions instead of locking them away.

Until the damage is done and he has broken the spirit of the one woman who has touched his heart. And the only option left to him is to let her go.

Poor Alessandro.

But, no worries. Rachel is every inch his equal and won't bow down without fighting, both her own fears and his. Not until she has his love.

What do you think?

Easy, peasy, right?

So, the plan is to finish the first draft at the latest by the first week of June, put the first three chapters through my amazing crit group and hit Send on the partial by June 15th.

Please, wish me luck, won't you?

P.S. Oh and on a very uninteresting side note, my Desire full has been with the editor for a month now. But who's counting?