Word count today:

Total word count: 7577

I've just finished up day two of my Great American Novel (that in all likelihood you'll never read). My word count is 7577, which puts me a little more that 15% of the way there. At this rate, I'd have the book done in 14 days; I have no illusions that this rate will continue. I'm hoping to bank a few extra days' worth of words (the average needs to be around 1667 a day to get to the 50,000 word goal by the end of November), so I'll be able to keep going when life catches up with me.

I started with an idea that wasn't wildly original, but had a nice twist to it. Yesterday I thought I'd already written myself into a corner with the protagonist's ability, kind of quirky sci-fi thing that I was afraid would overwhelm what little storytelling might otherwise occur. Today I'm feeling more optimistic about it. If nothing else, it's giving me a tremendous education in writing through problem spots. That's always been my problem in the past in trying to jump from short-form content (which I've been writing for years, and have actually gotten paid to do), to something that requires continuity across chapters. I don't know if my Great American Novel will ever be that great, but I'm hoping to take whatever I learn this month and possibily plunge into a nonfiction project that could actually end up not being too horribly horrible.