I’m still working on the novel, and things are moving along at a steady clip. I’m just shy of 16,000 words now and have a bit of material to get through before heading into the conclusion. Still, right now it’s looking more like it will be a novella than a full-length novel. The smallest size I’ve found for a full-length modern genre novel is around 70,000. My first draft probably won’t break the 50,000 word goal I took from NaNoWriMo. There are a number of scenes I need to fill in for the second draft, but I don’t anticipate that bringing it anywhere near 70,000.
Which puts me in a weird position for dealing with the end product. Unless I can find a boutique press that will deal with a short, retro, sci-fi actioner my options are placing a lengthy, weird novella with a really generous magazine or self-publishing. I guess I’ll deal with that once it’s a real problem. And honestly it’ll be the sort of difficulty that might lead to good things, so I’m not too worked up about it. Yet.
My main frustration is that I haven’t picked up any speed. Don’t mistake me; it’s great that I’ve been getting my 300 word quota in on a regular basis. I’m really proud of that. Writing is starting to be a habit instead of something I have to make myself do. Heck, even Resident Evil 7 didn’t detract from my pace for more than a few days. It’s just that I was hoping to be able to increase my goal by now. At this point I’d be ecstatic to reach 350 a day! Patience. Maybe by the end of the month I can do that much.
Anyway, that’s me. That’s progress. Happy to at least be still on target.
Tales of the Atomic Zombie 