My little supposed 30,000-word mid-grade novel had reached 68,772 words a few days before Christmas. Then the frantic onset of wrapping, baking, decorating, and celebrating shoved the “I can’t stop writing” choo-choo right off the rails. I will pick it up again, hopefully with new inspiration. The story has a long way to go for this main character, and I still have two more generations of humans to deal with before I can get them all safely off the planet before the suns collide….

No, really.

The big job, once the words are all in Scrivener, will be to figure out where to divide the mega-manuscript to turn it into several books. I am thinking there will be at least three, possibly four, in the series. I’ve been noodling with the idea, once they are in a readable state, of publishing them in serial form, and even doing some read-aloud podcasts to go along with them.

I might ask my daughter, who is an amazing artist, if she would like to do some cover art for me.

Of course, I have to start writing again first, don’t I?

I have a habit of starting great stories with a lot of enthusiasm, getting sidelined by things like life and family and health and holidays, and then letting them sit. At last count, I have no fewer than ten partially-written novels sitting in various states of disarray on an external hard drive. At my age, if I finish even one of them, it’ll be an accomplishment.

Oops, just remembered another one. Make that eleven.

Wait, no…fourteen.

I should stop writing this blog entry now, or I’ll wind up wasting the whole day remembering unfinished works and adding to the body count.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season, and I wish you a Happy, Healthy, and Heck-of-a-lot-better-than-the-last-one New Year!