I have a new goal.

I decided to make this two posts, because these really are two topics. My last post was about how I am now rewriting and expanding what I've already accomplished on ALDEN RIDGE. Well, this post is about the new goal that I have set for myself in this regard.

Things are moving along with the story now; all my prior writers' block has been un-stuck, and I have every hope that this will remain the case now that I've figured out the true way that I want to tell this story. There was always something ever so slightly off with the writing style before, but now it really feels just like me again.

So, given this positive turn of events, I've decided to make the most of my new productivity, and apply some real discipline. I'm going to try to keep to a schedule of completing work on at least four pages of the book every day, for at least twenty days each month. If I can manage that, that will mean I'm completing 1,000 (estimated) words per day of writing, and 20,000 estimated words per month. That would mean a completed novel in four months.

I've never maintained such a consistent pace before, so we'll see how that goes. But when I was really going strong on THE GUARDIAN, I was writing more like 2,000 words per session. So hopefully I can keep to the proper average per month, if nothing else. I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

So far, my results are thus:
-Yesterday, I completed nine and a half pages of rewriting/expanding (2,375 estimated words!)
-Today, I completed five and a half pages of rewriting/expanding (1,375 estimated words!)

And it wasn't that I felt some compulsion to keep working, either. Writing has suddenly become fun again, and I've remembered all over again why I love doing this. For a while there I was so shaken by uncertainty that it was hard to remember the good things, but I'm well and truly through that slump, which was the worst I've ever experienced, now.

So, after today's work, my statistics for the manuscript are:
-29,000 estimated words.
-33,209 actual words.
-Two fully-revised-and-expanded chapters, plus a few pages into the third (36 pages total).
-Ten completed chapters in all (116 pages).