(no subject)

[dr_pretentious]

42,029 / 50,000 (84.1%)

New words: 2009 (Had hoped to break 3k. Will have to break 3k tomorrow.)
Current deficit: 2980 (Chipping it away now.)

Working conditions: Read and marked up hard copy of ch 7, added annotations to computer file.

Made bulletted-point list of incidents for ch7, guestimated 50-page chapter. Panic! Did back-of-envelope calculations, assuming 13 chapters and externalizing short interludes from calculation, multiplied by very rough words/page ratio, and projected 162,500 word count for completed 1st draft. This book must not exceed 100K! Not not not! Chapters should average 30 pages, assuming a 250 word/page average. So culled incident list. Nanowrimo is a means to an end. The Seven Habits cultists say, Begin With The End In Mind. Stephen Covey's books assume that one has underlings to handle all personally unrewarding tasks at work, and a wife to do all the drudge work at home; as I rarely have anyone to delegate to, I take everything he says with a grain of salt. Nonetheless, Begin With The End In Mind is an entirely applicable mantra for this project.

After prolonged logistical confusion about whether in-laws would extend stay through tomorrow, in-laws left today, largely in order to enable me to finish Nanowrimo. While I got 8hrs sleep for first time all wk, Dan read bits of my lj posts to his parents over brkfst table. My mother-in-law, who has worked as a professional writer of various sorts over the years, knew what the heft of those word counts meant. Dan reports that, in among the moments of praise for my hard work, she couldn't help saying things like "Unnatural!" and "I wouldn't have expected myself to produce any words on Thanksgiving, and she shouldn't have, either." I'm just as glad I slept through that conversation, so I can simply appreciate that they were so considerate of my need for writing time that they were willing to face the final crush of Thanksgiving weekend highway traffic for my sake. I didn't exactly ask them to, but they knew what I'd have asked for if I'd felt I had the right.

Nanowrimo made me ungenerous toward my guests and kin.

Put that on a t-shirt, Chris Baty.

Having been an army brat, I was raised with a hospitality ethic demanding enough that the Homeric heroes would have recognized and understood it. I feel really bad about having needed Dan's parents to leave.

Anyhow, enjoyed my in-laws; in-laws are gone; I like having my house back. Also notable: spouse is excellent ally. Happy Thanksgiving, and goodbye to Thanksgiving until next year.

Big morale-boost: kistha reports dreaming of Beltresa. I think she's the 3rd or 4th person to tell me about having Beltesin dreams after reading bits of the big book, but it blows my mind every time. Made my day.

Tomorrow: 45K or bust!