And just like that, I've got the first three chapters of a pretty good novel-in-progress! The stuff I wrote this morning was actually for chapter four, pushing me up to a nice even 15,000 words, and I'm going to try not to obsess about numbers so damn much any more.

I keep trying to hamstring myself with worries about the pacing and the big themes I'm toying around with in the novel, instead of focusing on just writing the scenes and fleshing them out. It's weird, the things writers do to keep themselves from productivity. In almost every case, the problems work themselves out while I'm writing, or, more likely, while I'm walking the dog or jogging or driving to work. Then all I have to do is hold them in my brain long enough to either jot down the solution or sit in front of the keyboard for a few minutes and add this or that.

I did that for one of the characters in an earlier chapter, showing her reading a newspaper with the headline about the zeppelins attacking London. That headline will become important about 5 chapters from now. I love doing shit like that. They're like reader cookies for myself.

Tomorrow's Thursday already, and I'm looking forward to heading to Borders while Elizabeth is doing her prenatal yoga. I'll be doing some wireless research on the laptop and working on chapter four while she stretches out the Jasperito. It's the little things that get us through the day, it really is... Later!

Now Playing:
"New Favorite," Alison Krause

Now Reading:
Electric Velocipede 6; Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler