• Mood: sleepy
• Music: The Tragically Hip - Vapour Trail

so you were born in an electrical storm, took a bite out of the sun

Okay, that was a productive morning and afternoon. It's amazing how much more I get done when I can pry myself out of bed before 7.

350 / 400 (87.5%)

1421 words today, to finish the first scene in Chapter 18. The book's going to come in a little under 400 pages on this draft, but as usual, it needs some additions, so I'm not overly concerned about it. Also, OMG, less than two chapters to go. As I just noted over on my frequently-neglected Amazon blog, if I can finish this draft by Thanksgiving, I will truly have something to be thankful for.

The light at the end of the tunnel may be an oncoming train, but it's a train I'm going to catch, by criminy. And then I will be entitled to break out my post-novel ennui icon, in celebration, and bugger off for a while.

I have determined that part of the problem--what I'm feeling as a lack of momentum--is that this book has no plot. Which is kind of a feature of the series--it's not like Dust has a plot either, by my standards, and my models for these books are Amber and Gormenghast--but it does mean that on second draft I am going to have to do a lot of work to up the tension and pace so readers don't notice that it doesn't have a plot.

Anyway. Time to go practice guitar for a bit, and then maybe grab a short nap before my afternoon work arrives.