Quota

To meet the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words during November, a writer needs to average 1666 words per day. Thanks to my trip to Austin for World Fantasy last weekend, I missed out on the better part of four days’ writing. Even so, during my uninterrupted days, I was only managing 12-1300 words during my morning sessions. Today is the first day in the month that I’ve exceeded the requisite average. 1830 so far, and I might get more done this evening, though I never count on getting anything done in the evening. Only 5300 words to date for the month, less than half of where I’d be if I’d written at the average rate.

On the other hand, I’m now over 24,000 words into the novel and I’m gathering forward momentum again. So I can’t complain. Even if I fail to hit 50K, that’s a good thing.

I’m starting to reap the rewards from winning the Apex Digest Halloween contest. I received my $20 gift certificate from Changling Press and had an e-mail from Tom Piccirilli that the signed copy of Headstone City was on its way to me. It’s almost like Christmas!

I received a copy of the new Ian Rankin, Naming of the Dead, today. I can never wait for his books to come out over here. I always pre-order them, either from eBay or from Amazon/UK. Of course, I’m in the middle of this novel and reading Dan Simmons’ The Terror, so I won’t be able to get to it for a while. Maybe over Thanksgiving weekend, when I’ll be traveling.