Best laid plans...

Okay.

So last weekend I thought I could finish this book. 10K in two days was a stretch, but if I holed up in my writing space and didn't come up for air, possibly doable.

Ummm...no.

So I went at it hammer and tongs all week. "I'm so close. Any day now."

Thursday and most of Friday were a bust, though, 'cause I was reading Spymaster's Lady. Can you blame me? *w* (And most of early Thursday was eaten up by that other book I was supposed to review, which was a monumental waste of time. I would have stopped after the first chapter if I hadn't had to discuss it. Which, of course, got postponed a week.)

Then it was "If I don't do anything else this weekend, maybe I can finish by Sunday night." I've gotten up early, gone to bed late, skipped church and any other activities, and barely saw my husband and son.

Well, you see where that's gotten me.

So I've come to the conclusion - as others *did* warn me - that you've always got more to do than you think you do when you get close to the end.

Where do I stand right now?

Well, you'll notice I have broken 100K. Which pretty much everyone expected. *g*

Up through Chapter 21 - that's Glencoe - is complete. I have the remainder of Act III sorted into chapters, which are chapters 22-26. Chapter 22 is barely half written, and 23 has big gaps. 24-26 are mostly complete, but I flip-flop on how I want the division of scenes to go, so I need to finalize that and fill in a few gaps.

Act IV is mostly written, but I need to divide it up into chapters, cut a few things, add a few scenes of moderate length (1K or less), and finish a couple scenes. Oh, and write the end of the ending. *g*

To that end (ha), I've got a new (hopefully realistic) end date: the 15th. That's the end of Sven Round 2, the goal of which is to have a completed MS. (Also only 2 days before my braces go on and I get distracted by other things.)

I'll be joining Deniz in her 8-day marathon. Here's my plan:

Tonight: finish writing chapter 22 if it kills me
Tomorrow-Tuesday: finish chapter 23, and finalize 24-26
Wednesday: sort Act IV into chapters, as much as possible (27-32?)
Thursday: write new scenes for Act IV
Friday: finalize 27-28
Saturday: finalize 28-30
Sunday: finalize 31-32

The latter half of the week depends on how it all sorts out, of course. I'll leave Monday and Tuesday (13th-14th) as overflow just in case.

Hi-ho, hi-ho...