Have I finished the book?

I have not finished the book.

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Too real.

It’s been so long since I finished a book (five years actually - see below) that I’d forgotten that it always goes the same way. Every time I get stuck or spooked, I go back to the start and polish. And maybe I get a little bit further along the next time, but still not to the end, never to the end. So the first quarter, half, three-quarters is good. But then it falls off a cliff.

I know what I need to write. I’ve even half-written some of it, but it’s all out out of order. So I hit 80,000 words - the longest draft I’ve ever written - and back I went to the start. Just one more readthrough and then I’ll be done.

Probably.

I missed my self-imposed deadline. And now it is September, which I love. I am making a September writing plan. And a life plan. (Gentle things. Lots of walks. Coffee on my back step before the weather turns completely. And more reading than writing, my TBR is wildly out of control and starting to stress me out.)

So this time I just need to keep going and get to the end and then get this draft out of the (virtual) door.

Thanks, Leslie. (Do you know Amy Poehler is on TikTok? This morning I watched a bunch of videos of her rating slime.)

There’s no extract this week, but I would like to try something different. Might be fun, could be a total flop, let’s see.