Of the novel, that is.

I sat down and did plotting and realized that really, there aren’t that many chapters left. I figure the novel is only 63K words, not 69K words. I could be wrong, maybe I need those last two chapters, but right now, I think I don’t.

The novel is getting to that frantic spot, where it’s all drawing together and the stakes are high and the tension is killing me. This is, in some ways, the most difficult part to write for me. It’s really emotional and hard in some places. I need to be very vulnerable and bring all those emotions up myself (yes, I’m a method writer. Everything my character feels, I feel.)

The good news is that because it’s all so immediate and pushing at me, I’m typing things up, not handwriting then typing. I’m really hoping to finish off the next 9000 words this week. That would be so incredibly awesome if I can.

Other things–it’s been “wild animal kingdom” in my backyard the last few days. Seems like there’s a hawk who’s taken a fancy to my backyard.

On Saturday, when I was sitting out, a bird flew over me, close enough that I felt its wind as it passed, blowing my hair back. When I looked up, I realized it was a hawk. A pretty large hawk. Then it flew off. I knew it was a hawk, but I didn’t see it well enough to identify it.

Today, I was hanging out in the backyard. Lots of little birds were there, the black-capped chickadees, the sparrows, all eating at the suet feeder and taking turns at the birdbath.

I heard a rustling in the trees to the east. I knew something big was in there. Then suddenly, a hawk flew out. It had one of the little birds in one claw, carrying it easily. It flew directly at me, then veered off, maybe one foot away. It was huge. From the Audubon society page, I think it was a female Northern Harrier.

Now, while I’m willing to try to protect the little song birds from the cats in the backyard (the cats aren’t wild, they’re fed, and just hunting–they don’t need to eat the birds to survive) I don’t feel that badly that a hawk grabbed one. And the birds came back fairly soon afterward.