6:26pm. 20,220 words. done. so tired. I'm happy with my story. Not so happy with my ending but that's because there's more to tell. maybe a sequel. Anyway, I'll be submitting my 20,220words tomorrow for the contest. now, some rest. thanks for taking this ride with me. :) nite, nite.

6:05pm. 20,002words. can barely keep my eyes open. might need coffee. right arm tendon is a bit tense, too. I'm really liking this story even tho the 1st draft is always crap. that's normal. What's not normal is writing all at once in 3 days!

5:22pm. 19,000words. took a big break. back on track. loving my new writing room. makes all the difference for turning out great work.

1:33pm. 18,367words. rollin, rollin, rollin. choo-choo! the writing train is moving in the right direction--forward. ha. the plot is, too. ya know, I think I might be a YA author (young adult). who knew!

11:22am. 16,175words. back at the desk. having a bit of brain freeze, tho I can write thru it. story is unfolding again. it truly is writing itself. I'm just...channeling...

10:33pm. 15,701words. Day 2 nearly done. Goal of 16,000 almost complete. right arm really sore, plus back. Will take a break.

9pm. 14,103 words. I've hit a hitch in the story. Maybe it's just a long-short story instead of a novel. sigh. will keep at it but am concerned about plot. story of my life.

4:21pm. 12,753 words. hooray. it's the halfway mark. Another 12,753 words to go, give or take a word. time to celebrate with a beer!

3:17pm. 11,294 words. buzzing along. might have a new working title: "Pretty Blue Things"

11:27am. 9,665 words. line I just wrote: “That’s it, Dad,” I said in a quiet whisper, in my quiet room, in our quiet house. “You’re my new obsession.”

10:45am. 9,105 words. on a roll now. main character is 9 and has decided to be a priv detective. she'll start stalking her dad after catching him kissing her teacher. need. more. coffee. I'm back in the game.

12:40am. 8,026 words. made my goal for Day 1. was about 2 hours behind schedule. may be able to catch up on that tomorrow. another 8000 words to tackle for Day 2. now to bed for some sleep, if that's even possible.

11:28pm. 7,006 words. eyes drying out. getting hungry. slogging through the next thousand will be key. might be better for me to keep going late tonite and then sleep til 10am tomorrow.

10:43pm. 6,708 words. getting a rhythm back...sort of. Jim, Norma and Diana have left. just me on my own again. year 5. my last few Google searches have been for: books published for girls in the 1990s | how quickly a body decomposes | what eats squirrels?
I swear, it's all for the same novel.

9:59pm. 6, 420 words. slow going at the moment. sore back. a little tired but not bad. going to rely on tea to take me to midnight. I still might have a couple of thousand words in me yet tonite.

4:28pm. 5, 000 words. this is such a beautiful feeling, working on this piece of writing. I'm finally writing about a serial killer. It's about time....I've only been reading about them for a few decades.

1:47pm. 4, 086 words. Lucy, my main character finds her first decapitated squirrel near her house. she still hasn't found the head yet.

1:07pm. 3, 577 words. found a site that helps writers name their characters; it's a baby naming site! http://www.babynames.com/character-names.php she's an 8-year-old girl. needs to be an English name.

12:14pm. 3, 220 words. on a roll. finding pieces of my own environment sneaking into my book. the diving board. finding pieces of my childhood environment sneaking in. the woods by our house. the goal for each day is 8, 000 words. nearly half-way there.

10:16am. 2,391 words. an extract: "All I needed was my books but sometimes the breathing of another person in the same room was a comfort to me. I bet my father’s victims felt the same."