The Novel Diary: Week 33

Word counts: 3,308 (Chapter 7); 39,720 (total).

I am almost to my September 1 goal of 40,000 words. That is at least half of what I want the polished version of the novel to be, and (gulp) probably a third or fourth of what I should have before I start editing.

As I said last week, I am stretching Chapter 7 for the sake of reaching 40k. Everything I am writing is somehow pertinent to the story, but I have no clue how it will fit in later. Frankly, it could all be cut later. I am throwing in characterization, little scenes here and there, and general descriptions. Chapter 7 is already scarred with stretch marks, but instead of starting a whole new chapter I want to cram in the rest of the week’s work into it.

Ideally I would finish the chapter cleanly on Wednesday night, let myself succumb to the Labor Day orgy of college football, and then return to my long essay for another round of editing next week. That could happen, but it may not and I could be stuck tying the loose end of Chapter 7 next week. Either way, I am putting the novel down for at least a week. At some point I need to have another brainstorming session at Dave’s with a Back Roads Stout.

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