Deadlines

Days left until my book deadline dropped below the magic number 100 today. 99 days. 5 chapters. If I didn't sleep, and wrote at a rate of about 21 words/hour, I'd make it. That's actually pretty scary as many hours of writing yield less than 21 words. No wonder I'm getting edgy. I keep trying to tell myself that it's ok, because much of the writing is actually re-writing, but my deep secret self tells me this is not true. There's much vital material that is not even begun yet. I think I'm basically screwed. I'm now at a point where I know that if this book is going to be as good as I want it to be, many other things are going to slide. It isn't a pleasant feeling at all, because some of that sliding is going to hurt. The worst of it is that the last 4 chapters of the book are the ones that I'm most excited about but have the least background to talk about -- I almost feel as though I've been slowing down, putting them off on purpose because blank pages, though not very interesting to look at, are at least not ruined pages. I read somewhere that writing a book is like pushing a mountain through your head. It is.

Enough self-pitying drivel from me. Time to go write some words. I'll chime in again sometime when I'm feeling happier.