Novel Numbers

I’m having a hard time believing I can finish this novel in just 50,000 words.  I just finished my first chapter and it was over 3k.  I could probably make two chapters out of it if I must, but the story is still just getting going.  My character will be on the spaceship by the end of the next chapter (probably 2k words or so) and the ship will begin its 50 year voyage at the beginning of the third.  The novel will end before that, leaving lots of sequel room.

Anyway, I took the time to do some more writing tonight.  I had to do it, studying be damned.  I’ll make up for it tomorrow.

3000 words per chapter puts it around 16-17 chapters.  Maybe that’ll work.  I just need to keep the words coming to figure out how long this thing will be.

Writing…not…happening…

Read the title of this post like a dying William Shatner character and you’ll understand how I feel.  I have writing momentum.  I know what I want to write.  I wrestle a little on the sentence level, but that’s what writing is about.  I am ready to write this novel. So what’s the problem?

Everything else.

I know I should be writing regardless of everything else, no matter how thin my time allowance or how important my distractions, but in the realm of priorities, the novel is on a lower rung.  Tests are the main distraction.  My students take their end of course test on May 3rd (even though the course continues until the end of May).  And of course there’s that blasted Praxis on Saturday.  I’m still writing when I get a window, but most of the windows are getting filled with other things.  Next week will be clearer with the Praxis behind me.  May gets even better with the EoC behind my students.  Then the bliss of summer.

There will always be disruptions and distractions.  I find I work better with a bend-but-don’t-break mentality than with a Postman’s Creed mentality.  So the novel will get there…eventually.  Once I break the 10% mark it should be smoother sailing, or so my calendar suggests.  *crosses fingers…then uncrosses them to type*