I think this says it all:
I crossed the threshold and officially validated 50,146 words (Word says I had 50,0205, so I have to wonder what didn’t count). My novel is actually far from complete. I’m not even on final buildup to the climax yet, actually, but I’m still going to pause and celebrate for a moment. It’s not been as hard as I had feared it would be, but it was work nonetheless. And I’ll still be working on it into January, most likely, though at a slower pace now.
I should thank my family, especially my wife, for their support. Emma, my oldest, also participated, though in the Young Writers Program where you can set your own word count goal. She won on Sunday night (way to go, kiddo!) and has been doing a good job of not rubbing it in too much (I think she better appreciates now the difference between 7500 words and 50,000).
And also a big “thank you” to Huw Carrington, my “writing buddy” from England who would have beaten me quite soundly to this point had he not suffered a rather nasty setback last week. Determined to prevail, he has bravely soldiered on, and should cross the finish line tomorrow (if he hasn’t already done so and is simply being a good chap and waiting for me to catch up).
Besides keeping a little friendly competitive pressure on, Huw has been invaluable as a sounding board–probably much more valuable to me than I have been to him, I’m sure. Many good ideas have occurred to me in the midst of trying to explain some plot points to him. While I make no claims to this novel being any good, it’s certainly better because of him.
Anyway, back to the text mines. Just one final note. I have enjoyed doing this so much that I’ve nearly convinced myself it’s time to do something entirely different with this site. I’ll have more on that at a later date, but for now it’s time to party like it’s 1869! Or something like that.