I didn’t want to blog about it up until now– and doing this now might jinx myself– but at the same time as rewriting the novel, I’m also writing a short story. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to end up with, but I’m using the Novel in 90 750 word a day method, and blimey if it isn’t actually working. For the last few days, I’ve even been finding that the best time for me to write is immediately after I’ve gotten up. No breakfast– straight to the computer. There’s stuff coming out that’s interesting, and I don’t know where it’s coming from, which is normally a good sign. I’d forgotten how good being productive makes me feel- today, I managed over 1,000 words, I restructured half a chapter in The Hypernova Gambit, I finished two reviews, and did a rough version of a third. Next time I’m blankly depressed, I’m going to try and remember today, as one of the points where it actually all worked.

Book-wise, I’ve gotten to the end of Chapter 5- and that’s actually a third of the way through the book. (I ended up with rather hefty, multi-part chapters that average about 10,000 words each). What’s coming up is a little scary, as while the middle third is a little weaker and in need of plenty of work, most of the rewriting needs to be done to the final third. Trouble is, I’ve been set a deadline by George that this all has to be done by 25th of June (and that’s including getting someone to read the damn thing, which is proving to be harder than I’d like). She keeps saying that ‘You’re never going to be happy with it’ in response to me saying ‘I just want to get it a point where I’m happy with it’– and the thing is, I know that I’m not going to get this perfect. I’m not fooling myself. But, I am convinced that if I work myself to the bone on this thing, I can get it to a stage where it’s all of a good, survivable standard. The first five chapters are almost there. The rest of it’s taking some work. I’m going to get there, I just wish I knew when…