I had a couple bad weeks there. Wasn't getting any writing done. Somehow, this past Monday, I managed to start developing a little positive momentum going in the right direction.

Worked on the first half of Chapter 9 of my novel-in-progress on Monday. Completed the second half of Chapter 9 on Tuesday.
Today (Wednesday... well, I still think of it as Wednesday, even though it's well past midnight) I've managed to do an awful lot of work on the first half of Chapter 10. This has involved the most re-thinking and re-writing since the first chapter.

Today I have also crossed a major threshold, insofar as I have just passed the half-way point through the manuscript as it currently exists. I realize that as I continue to add and delete scenes (let alone phrases here and there), the half-way point is going to move. Nonetheless, I have crossed the threshold where it is currently drawn, and am now starting down the other side of the hill.

The word count for the manuscript currently stands at 98,000 words. As I've mentioned before, the typical length for a commercially viable first time novel is 100,000 words, plus or minus 20K. I still have four or so key scenes to write from scratch, and there will be a lot of editing and compressing once I finish my first complete pass. Nonetheless, I'm happy to be in the right ballpark.

"Yes, but how many *pages* is that?" I am often asked. Well, set in Times New Roman with one inch margins all the way around and double spaced, the novel currently clocks in at 337 pages.

In other words... it's a typical-sized novel.

Now, as I've said many times, "I hope to have the first completed draft done by the end of this month." Clearly, January is not going to be that month, however, since I'm only half-way through. There is still hope for February, however.

If I keep working at this every day.

Ack.

Much more news to post. Tomorrow. No, really!