SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14th, 2009 - PORTLAND

9 PM -

Sitting in a 24 hour coffee shop in Southeast Portland, at the biggest write-in I've come across yet. There must be at least 30 people here, typing away, trying to hit 50,000 words by the 30th. It's a little weird. "It rains a lot here and we have to do something," said the woman sitting next to me.

Yesterday was the first day since starting that I didn't write a single word (or, for that matter, post to this blog) - there are many reasons for this, including having to clean out the Newport house for renters coming in, the drive to Portland, and an encounter with a small amount of Absinthe the night before, which despite being small nevertheless somewhat knocked the wind out of my sails.

But also, I might have just needed a break. If I am somehow making this look easy, I'm sorry to say, I've got you fooled. It's because of experiences like this that I know what the word "angst" means.

Word count is still very healthy at about 28,000, but somehow I still have not finished Ch. V "Wasteland" yet - it just keeps expanding - to the point where I've had to divide it into sub-chapters (which I also did for the ultra-long Ch. IV "Tribe"). I endeavor now to finish this chapter in the hours ahead...

11:35 PM

At last, "Wasteland" is done, and with it, book one. It ends exactly as I've been planning to end it for over a week, with the introduction of the time-traveller Karillion.

I balk somewhat at my own audacity in introducing time travel 29,000 words in. But, the story wants what it wants, I suppose. It will be an interesting struggle to incorporate this somewhat fantastic sounding new tangent and still maintain the serious and sophisticated tone of the piece under which I have thus far labored.

Who knows! All I know is this is a lot of work. And, during the actual writing, a lot of fun. However, for some reason I continue to have trouble not angsting-out in-between writing sessions. I wish my therapist were here.

Tomorrow morning I'm driving to Seattle.