Word count: 71940 | Since last entry: 718 | This month: 5318 The rewritten chapters A and B were critiqued on Saturday, and the new Jason is definitely on the right track. But though the group liked the new chapters, there were still some good suggestions about how they could be improved — as well as a few difficult questions. For now, I hope I can get away with some of those problem areas with readers who haven’t read the rest of the book yet. As usual, I got somewhat derailed by success, which is why I haven’t posted here for several days after finishing the previous chapter. I also spent a good chunk of this weekend doing various things related to the kitchen remodel — looking at tile and granite, thinking about sinks, etc. — instead of writing. I did write a couple hundred words while sitting in the lobby before Sunday’s symphony concert, but didn’t post about it here at the time. Yesterday I was just fried when I came home from work, and though I did sit down to write, my eyes kept closing as I was reading over the last chapter and I didn’t put down one new word. But tonight, though I should really have gone to bed at 10:00, I instead sat down to write at that time — just a hundred words and I’ll be happy, I thought. But, again as usual, once I got started I didn’t stop until I had over 500 new words. (If only I could do that starting at 9:00 instead!) Looking to the future: If I keep up the pace of a chapter every 3 weeks — including those crit group meetings when I’m out of town, which I haven’t managed so far — I will be finished in late October. I would really rather finish the first draft before Worldcon (September 1). This means writing more than one chapter for each crit group meeting. Will I be able to do it? Well, I certainly won’t if I don’t try. So I have a new yellow stickie posted above my writing calendar: “I don’t care if you ‘don’t feel like writing.’ WRITE ANYWAY!”