The book was released on March 1, 2019. Today happened to be its first anniversary.
For some reason, I really wanted to write a little essay. Maybe because neither of my previous two Korean entertainment novels lasted more than a year. The third, Spring and Autumn, did surpass a year, but it was probably undergoing revisions around then.
Looking back, this was actually the first book I had steadily written for a full year.
Mm, did this one count as steady? It stumbled and staggered along, but I suppose it did. It was much steadier than before.
I could not help but sigh with feeling.
A lot of people used to say Ji Cha could not write long novels, that I had never gone beyond two million characters. Well, that was true. Both Korean entertainment novels were a little over 1.7 million characters, while Spring and Autumn had been planned for two million. But I cut some planned content, and it wrapped up at 1.89 million.
But this one had finally passed two million, and there was still room to go. I expected it to reach around three million. The plan was thirteen volumes, roughly 1,200 to 1,300 chapters. At my current pace, it would probably end in late June or sometime in July.
Provided everything went smoothly.
It should go smoothly, right? (laugh)
Looking back at the monthly word counts, I had been a little lazy in February. The previous months had averaged over 200,000 characters each. Though February had two fewer days, it somehow fell to less than 180,000. That was a bit low. I would work harder next month.
In single-chapter notes, I often explained this and clarified that, or poured out grievances and railed against reports, carrying bitter hatred as deep as the sea. There was