Yeah!

Chapter 31 of PSI Emergency is complete! It ran 1080 words for a grand total of 36,808. The active plot in this section is a great help to keeping the story going even when I'm struggling to feel the writing mojo. Now for the reward! I get to play on the internet!

Moving along, little bit by little bit.

I'm at word 707 of this chapter. I keep checking the word count every paragraph. It's a struggle, but I think it is worth it. I would like to be able to get to the end of the novel soon and unfortunately there is no other way to do it but one word at a time.

Working through a non-writing related writer's block

I've managed to get a start on Chapter 31 with 286 words so far. It doesn't seem like much but I am glad for the break in my block. Sometimes I start think about all the things I'd like to do, but would be overwhelmed if I tried to do them all. Or I think about the successes others have had and wonder if I will ever acheive that level. All those hopes and worries get tangled up and twisted together around me like a ball of yarn around a hyper-active kitty. I just have to remember to do the best I can and enjoy what it is I am doing and stop trying to compete with everyone else.

Calculations

I've been doing some calculations. My hoped for word count for PSI Emergency is 70,000, but my original estimation was 65,000 words based on the number of chapters in the outline and the fact that I average 1500 words per chapter. Using these numbers I estimate that if I write 1000 words a day it will take me 29.5 to 34 days to complete the first draft. This is very encouraging!

However, since there are only 15 sections left it also makes the book look as though it may end up short by nearly 7,000 - 12,000 words. This would be bad.