So, I’m at 380 pages, more or less, as of this morning. This is for THE WHITE ROAD OF THE MOON, if you’re keeping track. I only just worked out a couple important elements of the plot, incredibly enough. I’m kind of used to that, but it still seems odd to me that I can be at 370 pages or so and only then think: Oh, good, THIS is their plan! And it’s going to fail because of THIS! And then they can do THAT!
I’m thinking I will be able to pull this draft together at less than 450 pp, which isn’t so very terrible. Man, is the first revision pass going to be a pain in the neck. Mostly it’ll be dealing with who knew what when, always a nuisance to sort out, and with deepening characterization, always necessary for me.
But, barring acts of God like the New Madrid choosing this week to let go, I’m thinking this WIP will move out of the “in progress” folder and into the “finished” folder by about . . . oh . . . say, by about this time next week. And the first revision pass, tedious though it will be, should not take more than another week or so. So, looking good.
Stuff that helps me get work done: OMG THIS WEATHER. It is so humid that even when it is under eighty degrees, it feels like a sauna, and when it is above ninety, it is SO MUCH WORSE. I walk the dogs at dawn, literally before the sun is quite up, because that’s the only time of day it’s cool enough for me to stand it. Of course they can go out and run in the yard if they want to, but I would literally go stop Dora if I saw her running in the yard because I’d be afraid of heatstroke.
Can we move straight from here to October? Ugh, so done with summer.
But it does help me stay inside and write instead.