accomplishedWords: 5,017.
Total words: 90,318.
Reason for stopping: in the middle of the big boom in chapter twenty-three. BOOM.
Music: this week's episodes of NCIS and Dexter.
Lilly and Alice: taking up a physically improbable amount of space on my feet.
I...um...yeah. So I have this thing where every day, I put any specific writing goals for the day on my to do list. Because the to do list is my lord and master. Right now, every day, I'm putting "2,000 words, DA" on the list, and every day, I'm checking it off before plowing onward for another few thousand words. Why? Because I have hit the point where I literally can't stop. I eat, sleep, breathe, and dream this book. I inhabit this book even when I'm not working on it. I'm spending half my time (or more) in a fictional reality full of madness and monsters and manic dance numbers breaking out in the middle of nowhere. This is normal for me as I approach the end of a first draft. It really is. But it's been a while since I did this part, and it's making my fingers hurt.
90,000 words means that I'm 15,000 words, give or take, from the end of draft one. I realize I've been hitting that data point a lot, but um, holy crap, end of draft one. This is the book I started on a whim. The book I never lost enthusiasm for, but shelved repeatedly while I worked on things that had actual deadlines. The book that, let's be serious here, kicks off a new series. I needed three of those, right? They're like cats. You're not a crazy cat lady until you have more than four (even if Margaret says that by 2014, mathematics prove that 80% of all books will be written by me).
Also, at my current rate of speed, you won't be getting these updates for all that much longer. So there's that.
Soon, I hope to explain to the people who've only read Toby why, exactly, I felt the need to spend my time in a universe filled with cryptozoologists in skimpy outfits, asbestos blondes, ketchup milkshakes, ballroom dancing, high heeled shoes, and, of course, talking mice. And my answer to them will be, in no uncertain terms...CHEESE AND CAKE!
November 25 2009, 10:40:15 UTC 7 years ago
This sounds like a Doctor Who episode. In the not-too-distant future, the Doctor and companion find that the world's writing industry is dominated by a single publisher, with a very special secret hidden in their back room...
"Doctor?"
"Hmmm?"
"I can understand the whole 'giant megacorporation with deep dark secret stashed away somewhere' bit. I mean, we've seen that before."
"But...?"
"I just don't get why they'd have four thousand, three hundred and twenty six cats on the payroll."
"Maybe someone likes cats."
November 25 2009, 15:14:53 UTC 7 years ago
Holy jumping cats, five THOUSAND words? No *wonder* your fingers hurt...
Oh, but not back room. On the roof of the boardroom. Where else? :)
November 25 2009, 16:30:07 UTC 7 years ago
"Why is the executive washroom all litterboxes, and no other facilities?"
"I think we've made a mistake. The humans aren't running this business, the cats are."
November 25 2009, 15:59:16 UTC 7 years ago
November 26 2009, 09:06:30 UTC 7 years ago