The End of the Wheel of Time

Brandon Sanderson just posted on Facebook that he is sitting down to write the final 10% of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. . .in the next two weeks.  Now, I know for a fact that Brandon is shooting for around the average length of Robert Jordan's books which is around 300,000 words per book, which means that he plans on writing 30,000 words over the next 14 days.  He's crazy.

If I was writing consistently at my full production capabilities it would take me 6 weeks to hit the same mark.  And I'm quite sure that his writing will be a much better quality than mine. . .sometimes I feel like this choice that I've made to pursue a writing career is really, really stupid.  I don't know if I'm really capable of pulling it off.  What am I going to do if it doesn't work?  I have all my eggs in one basket, and it isn't a sturdy basket by any means.

Anyway, Brandon Sanderson makes me feel slightly jealous.  He's an excellent writer, he produces a new manuscript every time he sits down at a computer, and he's finishing what will probably be the greatest, most epic, fantasy series of all time.  Actually, slightly jealous is quite an understatement.

This wasn't where I was originally going with this, sorry.  Sometimes I sit down to type things and just end up lamenting my inadequacies as a writer, blech.  When this happens I tend to just gloss over my original point, which is now what I will proceed to do.

What I originally had in mind was something more along the lines of how sad I will be when this series is finally finished.  There isn't another fantasy series as grand or immersive as The Wheel of Time, though some will argue for George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones (which I quit reading after 3 books--I just got bored, it's much more gritty and much less magical.  The TV series looks awesome though). 

Robert Jordan's work wasn't flawless (there's some definite bogging down in the middle of the series, I personally get sick of reading about post-Faile Perrin, and post-Andor Elayne) but it does come the closest to matching the grandeur of Tolkien.  Jordan's world is rich and expansive, and he weaves together about a billion plotlines to tell his story, which is awesome (though it can be cumbersome).

So, I will be sad when the series is finished, I've been reading this series since I was in High School, way back in the 90's.  And it's been part of my life since because I read it almost yearly (which I will continue to do after it's finished).  Anyway it's weird, this will actually be the genuine last book for the series--most people thought it would go on forever.  Bittersweet?  Yes.