32,100

Six thousand, not bad for part-time writing, but on one day I'd only logged a 300 word increase, but wrote a whole lot more. See, something interesting happened this week. I'd worked out the plot of the book all the way to the end a while back, recently tweaked it, then (as I think I mentioned last week... maybe not), came up with a cool final chapter, a good way to end it and add a little twist. Well, had I been a full-time writer, I probably would have continued writing with this new last chapter in mind. Since I'm not, I had 24 hours to mull the idea over (and when I'm working on the first draft of the novel, I'm mulling over the book for pretty much 24 hours a day, just ask Janet). Anyhow, my brain kept playing with that last chapter idea, going What If This... and What if That.... I started to wonder, am I coming up with a whole other book, a sequel? I don't want to do a sequel to this book, so then what is going on? Well, I sat down next day and typed out these questions. I worked out what it was the right side of my brain was trying to tell me. In the end, what I was planning for last chapter is now revealed only third of the way through the story. Interestingly enough, the outline hardly changes, but there's now a subplot woven throughout the story, revealing itself in pieces, until the two come together at the end.

I was enjoying writing the book to this point, now I'm more excited about it because I think it's been twisted more into my true image, enough that it's a pretty unique story. Hopefully no more changes. Doesn't feel like it. Not that any of this is new. Usually when I'm plodding midway through a first draft of a novel it starts to feel heavy, weighted. This is due to something missing in the story, and the illusion that All Is Well can't maintain itself. At this point one needs to look at where the story is heading, and get it back on course. So, have a lot of writing to do, better et to it.

One final point.... the gym where I work out in the morning provides towels. They recently bought a slew of new ones. Now, have you bought a new shower towel for yourself recently? Have you noticed something odd about them? Yep, they're water-repellant. What the hell are the manufacturers of bath towels thinking? You're dripping wet, grab a brand new towel and expect - well - you expect it to absorb water! That's what towels are supposed to do. Not push it around from one body part to another. Wash the thing as many times as you want, whatever chemical they treat them with these days is pretty durable. Takes about a year of laundering to get the towel to actually DRY YOU. Sorry. My bitch session for the week. Small point. Fixing the absorbency of bath towels isn't going to feed the hungry, but if I can't whine about the problem here, where, then, can my cries be heard?

Dan