Just checking in (2440 words)

That's the day's writing, and the total for the chapter so far. Candelario wished for a truck,, and it happened a little differently from how I was expecting it, but it's pretty powerful, I think. I was nearly crying as Candelario told my guy not to leave --which means he can't -- and my guy had to face up to the fact that he would be found and destroyed and started making plans for his last few days. I don't usually get emotional when I write, at least not emotional about the content of what I'm writing, I'm working too hard on craft to have the leisure to get involved emotionally.

The thing is, I only have less than a thousand words in this chapter -- to describe the arrival of the truck and the move to Watsonville -- and then it looks like everything else is going to happen in one chapter after that. Which means I will be done with the preliminary first draft -- and it will have taken me six months. Not bad.

Then: back to the beginning, fill in some paragraphs, smooth over any discontinuities, some other tuning up, and it's ready to be read. And I think I start immediately on recovering Afterwar.

If I could get businesslike about selling the stuff, I might be going somewhere.

Now, to go be useful. Maybe walk the dog.