I think I'm at 12,000. Yesterday, I started a time-honored trick. I began writing the book backwards. That is -- I sat down and wrote, "Ultimate Chapter," and put down a few paragraphs, then sketched in some things that needed to be explained/explored. Then it was onto "Penultimate Chapter," which is more or less blank, because I don't know what happens, just who's present. And then it was the Penultimate Penultimate, where I discovered something interesting -- I had backed right into the 32 chapters I had and the track more or less met.

More or less. I'm pretty sure that there are some scenes missiing and that the end isn't properly ordered. And, of course, there are many, many changes to be made in this, the more-or-less third draft, to take advantage of things added during this draft. (I also decided to rewrite one chapter in order to move it to a Baltimore neighborhood that I found when I had to take a really complicated "shortcut" to get out of rush-hour traffic Wednesday.) But, dang it, Houston, we got BOOK. And I've got about an hour until my friends show up for our every-other-week Baltimore Sun ex-pats coffeehour, so I have to get started.

Meanwhile, you might want to read this. Although I think most of you here know I am evangelical for "Sex Devil."