Most of you have probably already seen me post this elsewhere–or gathered it from my previous blogs this week–but it’s official. I am done-done-diggity-done Jewel of Persia!

Okay, so I finished the story. I’m not exactly done with it. There will yet be tweaking, trimming, and editing. Still. Always a heady feeling to realize you’ve reached that final point in a book. I did that at 10:45 p.m. last Friday.

Saturday, I proceeded to type up a cast of characters, as recommended by friend and critique partner Dina. My hubby scoffed at this and said, “Oh, it’s not hard to keep them all straight.” I hope he’s right. Especially because as I started making my list, it soon swelled to fifty–50!–characters.

Now, I cannot be blamed for this. It’s history’s fault. Herodotus–and even the writer of the book of Esther–name so many stinking people. Had they not, I would have clumped several figures into one. I mean, how many brothers does one king need? But alas. In the interest of accuracy . . . my compromise was to not name anyone with whom I could get away with it. So though my heroine had seven servants, we only know the names of three. Though she had nine siblings, we only know the names of four. I tried to keep it reasonable, really I did! LOL

Another kinda grump I’ve had since finishing it is considering what comes afterward. My hubby (and publisher) wants to know what happened to Esther and the other wives and children after Xerxes is assassinated 8 years after the close of my book (and the Biblical book). A quick perusal online told me one thing, so I sat down with my Bible . . . and quickly decided the online sources were dead wrong. Which is annoying, because I mentioned something in my Author’s Note at the end of the book that I’m not sure holds. Grrrr.

Oddly, this again comes back to names. My online source was crediting something to Artaxerxes I that actually belongs to Artaxerxes II. Which wouldn’t be an issue if these people used more than three or four names. What’s up with royalty anyway? That cast of characters proves there were plenty of names in the ancient world, so why was everyone in the Achamenid dynasty named Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, or Artaxerxes?? I mean really. 😉

Grumps aside, I’m still floating on the sensation of being finished . . . and actually looking forward to diving into edits and trims next week!