OK, it's clear I'm not going to finish my next chapter until after the election. I'm sorry -- I can't help it. I'm a political junkie.

I'm scheduled to do two book signings in Utah County. These are my first solo book signings ever. The first is at Barnes & Noble in Orem, next Saturday (November 6, 2004) from 2:00-4:00pm. The major downside is it's in the middle of the BYU-San Diego State game -- but since the game starts at 1pm and won't be done... read more »

I just realized I forgot to do my weekly football update. Two out of three last week. The BYU Cougars beat Air Force with a nearly perfect second half in which they scored 41 points. That gave them their longest winning streak in a couple of years: two wins in a row. Woohoo! Can you feel the excitement? My fantasy... read more »

With that, the novel surpasses 110,000 words. I didn't quite squeeze all the information I needed to into this chapter, which is probably good because it's infodumpy enough as it is.

Chapter 45 is now finished, despite my taking the time to make a few blog comments elsewhere. But I've got to keep my focus on the novel if I want to finish before Thanksgiving.

And that puts me over the 75% mark toward my word count goal. It contains a scene inspired by something I read over thirty years ago in the Childcraft series of books my family had when I was a child. Do those even exist any more?

Total words in my novel written in approximately 28 months before August 26, 2004: 52,214 Total words in my novel written in the 60 days since: 52,252

And so begins Part IV. I'm a little behind where I was supposed to be in the plot according to my outline, but that's fine because chapter 45 in the outline had very little in it, and I can easily use it to catch up.

Well, I've finished a key scene in Chapter 42 and that puts me over 100,000 words. Back when I started this novel in May of 2002, my goal was 100,000 words. Well, I've reached that goal. It's just that the goalpost has moved a bit...

Well, I won't say this chapter contains the answer to the great question of life, the universe and everything. But it does up the stakes a little. It is also the last chapter of Part III of the novel.