The muse has turned rabid. Did it hear me say this book was taking its sweet time and want to make me a liar? Sure looks like it.

Ideas, scenes, imagery, dialogue coming too fast now to keep up. I made a rough list, Stuff That Needs To Happen Before The End, and I don’t know if the simple act of trying to work off a list has angered or pleased the muse. I’m now being pummeled with totally unforeseen, unplanned scenes that are NOT ON THE LIST.

“Oh, those are the things you need to write?” says the muse, looking over my list. “Well, how about these twelve new things, too? And oh–one more. Oh, and this!”

So, like a good writer, I write them, thinking surely most of it will be cut in the editing phase. Surely this book won’t be 250,000 words. Then I read this stuff back the next day, and I see one thing ties to that thing that happened back in chapter 7 so it can’t be cut, and this other new thing shows a growth between this character and that character and it’s too poignant to cut.

Two more chapters ahead and nothing crossed off the list. It’s already the length of a good-sized novel and I’m nowhere near finished.

Progress of THE OAK AND THE MOON
First Draft: In progress (116,222 words and counting)
My revisions: In progress
Professional editing: Not started
Final Draft: Getting there slowly…
Proofreading: Not started
Formatting: Not started
Cover art: Not started