Make that 64,585...

 ...being slowed only by my having had carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand on January 5. Yeah. Six days ago, and I can almost type normally again.

Which, I suppose, says a lot for clean living. (!)

Added to this, of course, then is the latest invitation my agent has received from an editor for projects to fit a very specific kind of story--one I happen to be very good at. 

But NOT the kind I'm working on now! 

(Ayee)

More to come. Probably much, much, MUCH more...soon as my hand can cope with it.

Pray!

Janny

59,380...and counting

Okay, not to brag or get ahead of myself or anything, because I KNOW I've written some rabbit trails I'll have to trim and/or excise when it comes to editing and polishing...

...but MY BROTHER'S KEEPER is up to almost 60K words, and will reach that this weekend. More than likely, I'll blow right through to the tune of 2,000-3,000 more words before the New Year.

No, this won't finish the book; my novels of late are in the 85K+ range, and this one will end up that long for sure. But considering this is the THIRD book I will be tackling during calendar year 2020, I'm still not going to complain.

And, yes, I'm starting to get that "butterfly" feeling in the pit of my stomach. The one that's a mixture of wondering-if-I-can-pull-it-off and watching-myself-do-so. There's a creative fire that flares even higher at times like this--when you get that heart-stopping thought that maybe, just maybe--as the hero in one of my sweet romances says, This is gonna happen. Thanks be to all that is holy, this is really gonna happen!

People who don't create "stuff" out of nothing probably don't relate to this.

But I know a whole lot of you who...most assuredly...DO.

And with that, I must be going...

Stay tuned!

Janny

41,049 words...and Counting

 ...it's times like these I wish there were such a thing as cloning.

Because that way, one of me could go to sleep and do respectable work tomorrow...and the other could stay up all night and write on THIS BOOK!!!!

No, I'm no excited about this at all.(!)

More to come...

Janny

31,432 words...and counting!

We pause here for a very brief update on MY BROTHER'S KEEPER, which is the book I'm presently writing...again...for something like the eighth time. Only this time, I'm trying to do it RIGHT. (LOL) And, since the gadget I was using to measure the word count graphically for some reason isn't working anymore...we have to do updates the old-fashioned way.  (!)

I've written at least one rabbit trail that I've corrected, taken out several scenes that deal with things I don't really want to reveal yet, and am moving this story along way too slowly, I suspect...so I'll have to do what I can to up the pace. But at only 31K words out of a proposed length around 85K, I suspect the progress I'm making is not going to be wasted, either. I'm spending a lot of time right now getting to know my hero and heroine better than I ever have before. Which means the story will eventually start to take on that "inevitable" feeling that good stories have: that (as my critique partner once said about FROM THE ASHES) "given these characters, what you've written is the only way the story could go."

That kind of wonderful "inevitability" takes time...and the occasional rabbit trail.

But when it happens...oh, my, the magic of it!

Meanwhile, we spend our time writing scenes...and then asking ourselves what comes next.

More to come (about 45K words' worth, to be exact),

Janny