Today I had the perfect mixture of intense activity and complete down time.

Yesterday I realized that I had miscounted the number of pages I’d written for chapter eight. I typed up everything that I had, only to find out that the chapter was about 3600 words. I thought about it yesterday afternoon and decided I could write the next scene from the same character’s POV. This morning I wrote up another 1500 words and typed it up as well, bringing chapter eight in at 5100. Here’s the official word count for the novel to date, through the end of chapter eight.

40,054 / 100,000 (40.1%)

This afternoon I wrote the first 1000 words or so of a short story for an anthology — Paper Blossoms, Sharpened Steel. I don’t know if they’ll like it. It’s a revenge story, more historical than fantasy, though there is a strong fantasy element in it. It’s called “The Dutiful Daughter”. We’ll see. I have to finish it as well. I tried writing it straight on the computer, which I think was a mistake. I ended up doing a lot of rewriting instead of pushing forward with the story. But I like what I have so far.

In addition, yesterday afternoon I went and got my haircut. Next to the salon is an antique store. They had antique folding chairs for sale. I’ve been looking for folding chairs for a while. I’ve looked at cheap, ugly ones and nice looking, expensive ones. Finally, I have a set that is both good looking and inexpensive. I will have to refinish them next year, but for now, I am so happy that I have them! Particularly for my birthday party in a couple weeks. (If you’re local and I didn’t send you an invite, let me know and I will. I’m already aware of some people who I missed. . .)

Oh, and happy birthday to lyda222!