60k?

I'm so close to it that I can almost taste it. Finally I had a chance to write on the train back to the North Shore last night, and once again I took advantage of a little time away from the novel to wrap up the current chapter in a nice and neat manner that had been eluding me while I was neck-deep in it before. It's funny how lost you can feel when you reach a point in a story or a chapter where you can't find your way out, and then afterwards, once the exit is clear, how optimistic you become once more. Just keep writing. If ever there was a mantra for an aspiring author!

So the good news is that I'm about one hundred and seventy words shy of the sixty-thousand word mark, and just finished with Chapter Ten. The bad news (well, let's call it less good news) is that it's taken me five months to get from 50k to 60k. Granted, I knocked off a short story - "Keeper" - during that period and didn't actually resume working on the novel until October 1st, so it's not as sad a story as it sounds at first. Nevertheless, it's time to ratchet things up - no new projects until I get to 100,000 words! If that doesn't keep my nose to the grindstone, I don't know what will...

Hey, I finally referred back to my blog for a reason other than pure vanity! Kaloo Kalay!