John L. Monk

Somehow I hit 8k this week. I had ups, I had downs, then the internet went way down for three days, and a light appeared at the end of the tunnel — I couldn’t check Facebook!  I couldn’t watch cute cat videos!  Suddenly I had no reason to miss my 7k word count goal for the week.

Actually, in retrospect, I should have hit a higher number. I mean, even our television channels weren’t working. We were like our prehistoric ancestors who had to talk to each other and play board games.

The horror…the horror. I hear the drums…they are coming.

Still choo-chooing along. I actually got closer to 7500, but didn’t want to round up. Waiting for that special moment when it happens and I sense the ending of the first draft. I’ve heard other writers say that’s when their word counts go nuts, and it’s been my experience as well. I’m “writing messy” as Rachael Herron puts it — just getting the story down and never mind how pretty it is. Now I have authors notes scattered everywhere and my spellchecker won’t talk to me.