Sorry for the late update, but I have been working twelve-hour days at my dreaded day job. I’m sneaking this on after hours at work, but I can proudly say I am still on schedule.

Now – you’re going to want to mark this day on your calendars. It si a high-water mark for me, and the chances of it happening again are going to be astronomical.

Ready?

I have to pad my novel.

I know! I’m just as shocked as everyone else is. You see, for those of you who might not know, I have no problem exceeding a word count by thousands of words…and not wanting to cut a single syllable. You want a 50K novel? I’ll write 65K. I can’t help it. I get dragged down side stories and lost in the thickets of description and before I know it, I have to trim everything down.

Not this time. This time I’m writing Catastrophic Christmas Party and I’ve hit all the major plot points – even threw in the beginning of a love interest for giggles. I was so sure I was going to run off at the mouth and have to cut down a couple of scenes.

Total word count? 30K roughly. Novel was supposed to be 50K. I very, very badly undershot it.

Padding is going to be not that nig of a problem, I’m just miffed that I have to do that. I can throw in a couple of scenes with Evan dealing with Christmas shoppers and his whammy. I can even include a scene with his parents and give a little bit of a back story with him. Maybe even a chance encounter with the love interest. Like I said, it’s not a problem of padding, I’m just flabbergasted that I have to do it.

Speaking of padding – I am out of Nanowrimo this year. As it ends up, overtime at work started and that always cuts into my writing time, especially since I like to get big checks so I spend at least 12 hours here at work. I’ve been noodling and outlining another novel in the meantime, but I’m not pounding the keyboard like I should. Something-something-eight hours of sleep…I don’t know. Next year – next year I’ll have a better idea of time management and maybe skip the overtime. I’ve won it once, I know I can do it again if I focus.

Well – that’s all I have time for right now. There’s not much else going on other than I got my flash, so my camera kit is pretty much complete, now all I need is to take some time and start photographing again before it gets too cold. I might even hit up a couple of friends and see if they would be willing to model for me in an ad for Valentina’s Feast.

So – take care, I’ll see you next week.