This is it -- the last day to work on the novel. I've been at this for almost 9 weeks now, with a short intermission in early July when I got sick. I'm down to the last few chapters, hell, the last few SCENES, and the light at the end of the tunnel is growing stronger. You could say it's the... Final Countdown (doo de doo doo, do de doot doot doo!).

Sorry. If you're not a GenXer like me, you probably have no idea what song I'm babbling about.

I'm up to 327 pages (!!) and a little over 73,000 words. I'd love to hit about 360 pages and 80k, but I'll be happy if I'm able to tie up all the dangly plotlines I have out there now, flopping in the wind.

I must say, working on it non-stop for the past few days has really helped me focus on the main character and the themes I'm trying to get across. The trick is giving each scene the proper amount of attention, and not rushing through it.

And so, as I type and revise and tweak throughout this final day, you can bet these deep lyrics will be running through my mind:
"We're heading for Venus / And still we stand tall / 'Cause maybe they've seen us / And welcome us all (yeah)"

Or not.

Check the Comments section for updates, if you're interested in that sort of thing... Later!