As you may have noticed, by the full bars that have turned purple to the right, both Tammy and I have successfully crossed the 50,000 word finish line for National Novel Writing Month 2009!
Hooray for us! Wasn’t much of a celebration, but that’s to be expected when the crossing happens and is counted up past your bedtime on a Monday night. Last year, the crossing of 50k and the end of the novel coincided for both of us (especially me: I ended at 50,017 words) whereas this year the larger question is the actual end of the novels. Tammy’s not done yet, and I’m over 54,000 words this morning, but I’ve only got a few scenes to finish. This is the best time of the month. It’s the time when everything is in place for better or for worse and I’m screaming downhill at 100 miles an hour to the end of the book. I pulled off 3300 words yesterday. It’s even better than those heady first days when anything is possible, because here the pressure’s off and all the big decisions have been made. Although, a lot has to be said for the anticipation of the last week of October. It’s like waiting for Christmas.
So we stayed up way too late last night, talking in bed about the big challenges we’d faced during the month and about the remaining ground to cover before we each type “The End”.
On a side note, my typing muscles are certainly a lot stronger now. I’ve typed every one of the 54,000 words so far on my manual typewriters. I’d say about 85% on the Underwood Touch-Master and the remainder on the Smith-Corona portable. They’ve both stood up to the pounding, which puts a silly grin on my face. Those things are fifty years old, and still in prime shape. And this year, at the end I don’t just have a file on my hard drive, I’ve got a stack of pages that lets me know I’ve accomplished something. 132 pages as of last night.
