Word count: 5672 | Since last entry: 813

I’ve been slipping into a mode where I leave the writing until the last possible minute (often not starting until well after a reasonable bedtime) and then banging out the bare minimum 100 words before stumbling off in the dark to where Kate has already gone to bed. This is no way to make real progress on the writing and does not contribute to a happy home life. So, starting this weekend, I’m going to try to get to the writing first, and do other things thereafter, whenever possible. I might not get to bed any earlier, but I think this will help with both quantity and quality.

And I really need the quantity. I’ve now written a good-sized short story’s worth of words and I’m only to the fifth point of a seventeen-point outline, which implies a final length in the 15,000-25,000 word range: either a long novelette or a short novella. This is a very difficult length to sell (though, as Kate points out, if I do sell it the competition for awards is much less). But, having started the damn thing, I mean to finish it… but I don’t want it to take all year. Which means I need to keep plugging away at it. Ganbatte!

Anyway. 500 words tonight, and it’s not even time for Galactica yet. More words tomorrow. And I worked out with my trainer and went to the bank today, so I’m feeling especially virtuous.

A snippet: “It had been so different six months ago… six months ago in my memories, that is; six months before first scan, which turned out to be my last. That was when the crew had first eaten together, right after the press conference where our selection had been announced to the world.”

Oh, one more thing: I’ve received a number of emails in the last couple of days from friends and strangers, asking for writing help and advice. Even though this represents yet more Things To Do, I find it enormously cheering.