40 000 Words Up

This is going to be a short post – I just felt I needed to write it. It’s about the manuscript I’m working on. I promised myself I wouldn’t talk publicly about it until I’d finished it. But right now, I’m quite proud of where I’ve gotten. Amidst severe bouts of procrastination, I’ve managed to get to 40 000 words on it.

And no, I still won’t tell you what it’s about just yet.

But in the words of the great Bard himself:

“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.”
― William Shakespeare

Flying at the 40 000 word altitude is both scary and compelling. Scary because it means I’m crossing the Rubicon here – there’s no point of return, I need to get it done. I’m almost, almost there at the target mark now. Compelling because, well, this final set of 10 000 words is going to take me to the place I’ve been yearning to be at for years now, as I’ve struggled with the challenges of writing on a much longer form than I’m used to. But hey, I do like this place in the writing journey, and I could indeed see myself wasting a lot of time in it. Which is a reminder that I should actually get on with it, and finish the damn thing already.

I’ve got the wisps of an idea for another book – totally unrelated to the one I’m currently writing, and once I finish this manuscript, I’ll probably begin plotting that one.

I’ve learned a lot from this process, from the many false starts and frustrations, to the actual sitting-down-and-reading-reading-reading-reading a lot about the craft, to the act of writing itself. I feel a lot more confident approaching the next project, but I’ll cross that bridge after I’ve completed my trek through the murky waters of this current book.

All for now.