Benchmarks

Ever reached a goal and realized that it wasn't a goal at all? That it was but a benchmark, a place you put a tag into to remember the spot by, and keep going? I thought I had a goal to reach, and it has turned out to be a benchmark. Writing my first novel-length story, I knew I had to have a minimum of 50,000 words to be considered an adult sized book, and not a young adult . Well, I set that goal, thinking it would be a struggle to reach. That 50,000 is an awfully big number, said I. You're going to have to stretch some things, said I.

Nope.

I made that goal yesterday, and blew right past it.


The ending is forming in my head, but it is still in it's infancy on paper. Ok, word processor. Yet there are still things I know I need to go back and fill in, holes that I left in plots, emotions that still need fleshed out. Twice my original estimate is sounding about right, if I continue the way I have been. By no means will it have an unwieldy heft, like something akin to Tolkien, but I don't think I'm looking at a thin book here. More muscular, if you will, without going that creepy extra mile to bodybuilder covered in veins look.

Oh, and I have to thank Joe, who gave me some interesting conversation this morning-dreams are a magnificent thing. The houses you built in your sleep fascinate me.