Got in about 50 minutes and 500 words last night. Not a great night, but something unexpected happened with a couple of the characters that I'm happy about. I didn't really outline this chapter so maybe that's a bonus from my laziness. The next chapter will have to be outlined pretty well though, too many moving parts to wing it.

Chapters 6 & 7 done last night. That's a bit of cheat though, chapter 6 got so long my wife said I should split it up. My word count is now 48,000.

What made me think I could ever write a novel...I've got two horrible novels in my drawer that say I can't. Much less this whole mystery series that somebody talked me into envisioning... I just have to face it. I'm just a wannabe with a few clever tricks.

You sound like the voices in my head, erika. Tell them to shut the fuck up.

I have those voices too I think Burrell has the right plan.

Yeah, I should, but if I felt that I would listen to myself, maybe I'd feel confident enough to make the books happen. I know I am at least a little better than when I wrote those other things, though.

I managed to outline chapters 8,9,and 10 last night. Now I can get back to writing. Maybe 8,9,10 and 11. There's a lot going on in 8 and it may need to split.

I just remembered something that needs to scheduled in chapter 9 so it will show up again in chapter 15 without coming out of nowhere. Time to email myself and remind myself to schedule the drug overdose.

My wife finally read chapter 5 and she said she loved it. I've decided to take this as meaning that chapter 5 is good rather than a sign of blatant bias. It's got me all worked up to get started on 8. Only work, the evening schedule, and the school newsletter stands in the way. Sigh.