Thanks for sharing all the updates, Annette! At this point, I’m looking forward to that last triumphant announcement almost as much as the book hitting shelves. 
With the love and care that Janny puts into crafting every scene, I’m betting that this final volume is going to be something truly special!
Thanks Annette.
Since I don’t use Twitter, your updates are really helpful. I do follow the links to read the post.
Thanks for your efforts and insights. Though our speculation may likely be proven inaccurate, it’s fun to consider.
As of today: I am doing the final read through of Chapter Set 15; my pacing for this final check is about 1 chapter set per day, that sets me up to have the story in order BY THURSDAY NIGHT.
Game on for the weekend: trim and polish the glossary draft (finished but raw in places), do the time line, and finish the (already set up) frontmatter pages - table of contents, dedication and acknowledgement, timeline).
Then the files get stitched together into on Monster file - and at that point, off it goes to the editor’s desk…Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Nearly there. Last lap. Get ready to party.
Great news!
With the attention to detail while doing your own editing, are you able to avoid having editors try removing important material that they might not properly comprehend?
Thanks for the update.
Well, we are here. I am cross checking the stitched together (I had separate chapter filex) submission file, including timeline, glossary, all the stuff.
It is a monster. Weighs in a tad over Peril’s Gate. I will send it tomorrow/IF you have good energy to send for this, put your sweet thoughts out there…because the Story is tight as a drum, the only thing I could trim (and I’d hate to) is timeline and glossary stuff. FINGERS CROSSED. I will post when it is SENT to the editor, and it will be PARTY TIME.
No wonder this took 5 years to write!
You WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!
Thanks Janny for all that hard work, something the size of Peril’s Gate sounds excellent and well worth the wait. 
Janny - you already had an amazing series up to arc 4 - so looking forward to this last arc (been reading your work since late 80s and you have written books that have become many of my favourites) - really exciting to see this finally published - I will be rereading some more whilst waiting… you cannot send us real fans a rough PDF whilst we wait… and promise to buy the book and ebook when it finally arrives 
?! Also been watching the YouTube WaLoS discussions - they are starting well! And thank you so much for engaging with the readers on paravia website over the years
If I’m reading this forum right: the energy is strong, resonant, and fully in accordance with the Law of the Major Balance. The lanes are about to fire, the focus has been awakened, and the transfer is immanent. This is happening, and the future of a 30+ year masterpiece hangs in the balance. As long as the publisher upholds the Compact, everything will be alright!
OK guys - THE MANUSCRIPT IS TURNED IN! Went off today, with all the supporting material, glossary, timeline - let’s hope the editor loves it! (Size of Peril’s Gate).
You here are FIRST to know - spread the word as you wish!
FIFTY YEARS OF WORK from idea conception and behind the scenes work that went on for two decades before Curse of the Mistwraith ever saw publication…all in culmination, it is finally on the Finish Line.
Now we wait for the editor’s word back…
POP! That is the champagne cork - party for the finish at ICFA in Orlando, if you are at the conference, be sure to make yourself known! (I am there Wed, Thur, leaving Fri).
This is amazing news
Amazing. Monumental. 50 years…?! Now, has any other writer ever dedicated that amount of time to a set & planned series before? Did you know it would take this long back when you started?
What would you say you’ve enjoyed the most about it all? The least?
Has your opinion of any character changed as you wrote?
Is it hiking, bagpipes, horse riding and gardening from now on? (At least, I hope you will get more of that…)
I hope it gets taken up, but will buy it in chaps directly from you or on digital from this site, if I have to.
Congratulations, Janny. What an astounding achievement. 
What??? (hiking, bagpipes, gardening, riding…) No, I am not retiring! While, yes, I may snatch a little time to do this stuff, the Search and Rescue team is still on that list and the time that requires is A Lot to keep training current.
Primarily - I have art deadlines to meet. Cover and interior art for this book, and the two following Empire books for Grim Oak Press. That will keep me Big Busy for the next bit.
What am I going to do?
Today: spent mapping out a bit of short fiction (yes, Athera related!) that I had partially started and on the back burner for FOREVER…that will get completed.
I have Other shorts also in progress, various states of planning.
And a stand alone novel three chapters down…with fourth chapter well along. That is likely to be my next submission/but FIRST we have to see what the editor does with this manuscript (thud!) that just landed on their desk.
I have a list of FOURTEEN novel ideas; a slew of satellite stories (Atheran universe) and a ton of closets to clean! Also this forum on ‘sleep’ for way too long, now I will have Time for it.
So the gardening would be nice but truthfully, the honey harvest comes before that. And I am looking at a dog for SAR training.
Plenty to do while the nerves won’t get to me (editor). We possibly need a New Thread soon for STATUS OF FUTURE PROJECTS as they get ongoing.
I made Huge strides on the short story (or novella or who knows what) today - the ideas fleshed out enough to get it going again…if you are wondering, the title is The Outcast, and it is a backhistory, set in the early 4000s, Third Age.
And there may even be epic poetry coming from the First and Second Ages…or even the Eras before that.
You have no idea what’s been abubbling and aboiling while I was editing the Huge Stack of Manuscript.
NOW it is all unleashed…!
I am happy for you! I’m also happy for us! Congratulations 
Just catching up on the forum, and giddy to read this update, Janny!! I cannot imagine how you must feel. Thank you for your dedication and for sharing your artistry with us! I cannot wait!!!
Fantastic news- well done Janny!!!
Hee hee… retirement was never implied! Just a change of tack…
Search and rescue … that explains the sheer toughness of some of those mountain crossings you put Arithon through! I did wonder…
I think he might be quite glad of a quieter after-Athera life… play his Lyranthe & plumb the mysteries.
I’ve just cut back the seed heads in my tiny town garden, kept to feed birds over the winter. My daffs are already on the turn… and just like that… spring has sprung.
On with the fresh growth…
Since Turn In - things are moving along in the editor’s office. Art deadlines are being set, timetables under discussion - production scheduling - we have no firm pub date quite yet (though that is being discussed also) because: internal scheduling for various stages of production have to be firmed up/this is not my bailiwick - rest assured, all is moving forward.
As soon as the internal schedule is committed, and publication date is FINAL - then, and only then, will I put the information out.
Readers tend to take it very, very hard when a date is projected and it gets moved. So for the moment: rest assured, we are on track and moving forward.
Meantime: I am drawing/sketching and designing artwork for both interiors and cover/with Empire special editions 2 and 3 also on the docket. AND: tinkering with some short work writing related to the bigger series, as well as catching up with cleaning up rat heaps in the office, and doing some long overdue excavation into my TBR - reading for pleasure, which I’ve missed!
Stay tuned…
Glad to see that Song of the Mysteries is finally finished! I know that has to be a huge load off of your shoulders to finally have this great work of yours behind you now.
I do have a small question though - now that you don’t have some room to breathe and aren’t so pressed for time to finish SotM, do you think we’d be able to see what the proper timeline for events in Peril’s Gate is now? Because if I recall correctly, didn’t you say in a Goodreads thread years ago that the dates for each chapter got thrown out of whack and the timeline shifted way off somehow during the editing stage of PG?
Regardless, thank you so much for all you’ve done for us Janny, and I can’t wait to get Song of the Mysteries in my hands once it’s finally published!
