I missed posting my updates Sunday night because I was completely wiped out, not from writing, but from the early onset of a cold. I'd been hiking earlier in the day and when I got home all I could do was lie in bed and complain about how tired I was. The sneezing didn't start until later. Luckily, the duration was short, and 48 hours later I'm feeling somewhat peppy.
Next Sunday: No word count update. First, I'll be out of town Friday-Monday, taking a little mini-vacation. But, I'm taking Tuesday through Sunday off next week as well for some serious butt-in-chair time to get this draft finished, or, if not finished, much closer to my original goal of finishing by the end of April.
I feel like I'm somewhat past the middle of the book. It's hard to judge because I haven't made up my mind on which of the half dozen possible endings I'm going to go with. The first draft is almost certainly going to be shorter than the final draft, since I already know I have a LOT of character work to do on some of the major characters. I had a pretty good early chapter where I focused on childhood events that shaped Cinder, Infidel's daughter, and gave her some depth of character. Then... pretty much zero development for her. I know, in the end, she has an arc, that she does grow and change from her experience in the book, but here in the middle she feels really static. In contrast with her mother, she's shy and cautious and quiet, and I find myself getting to the ends of chapters and thinking, hmm, she could have crawled off to take a nap and nothing would be significantly different in this chapter. That has obviously got to change, but I'm also determined not to turn her into Infidel 2, another fearless, wise-cracking warrior woman. I do want her to be shy, cautious, and quiet. I just want her be noticeable and interesting while displaying these traits, which is going to be challenging.
No excerpts this week. I'm getting into parts of the novel where pretty much every line I type is going to be a spoiler. Maybe I can find something to post on my next update two weeks from now.
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