Sneaky Little Bugger

Christmas is coming, and coming fast! I've been busy this last week getting ready for it, but I still haven't finished all of my shopping. Since I haven't had much time to sit down and write, my brain has been running in overdrive to try to make up for the loss of exerted creativity. In other words, the voices have started screaming (in lieu of their usual mutterings). I'll be at the store, browsing through the latest and greatest, looking like your average Christmas-shopping crazy person. But on the inside, I've completely checked out. My mind is a maze of plot-lines, juicy conflicts, and character issues. I swear, I think I might even hear myself mumbling from time to time...

I've got Kate and Caleb in some lover's quarrel (so out of sync for the holidays, don't you think?) at the same time that I have my Dark Goddess musing on the details of her newest plan for world domination. Then, I've got a group of rogue Immortals who are feeling extra left out and incredibly needy (even though they don't make their debut until book six--that's right book six, and they're already bitching at me!)

But that isn't all. I've been working on my plot (which I'll be blogging about in the next couple of posts) so I have what if I do this, or what if I do that's competing with irate Rogues, quarrelsome couples, and a Dark Lord-ess with a hard-on for taking over the world. And that's not even counting the characters who just turned traitors and are deciding on their best course of action for ambushing the Vampire General!

Peachy, just peachy. Why do I suddenly have flashbacks to my sixteenth birthday at the DMV? Oh yeah, that's right, "Everybody take a number and wait your turn." Order would be such a handy little tool to have at my disposal. Too bad my brain doesn't do order. I picture my characters taking their number, then glancing between the paper slip and me with a look of are-you-effing-kidding-me writing on their faces. It's sad that I'm amused by the visual...

On one side, this whole "bonanza" of mental goodies is awesome. I'm coming up with some quality ideas. Plot lines are a necessity in my world, and conflict is as important as romance in my novels. If my writing is in short supply, my idea-pool is overflowing.

On the other hand, I think my brain might explode from all of its recent activity. While I'm not exactly aware of any overactive-brain related deaths, I won't rule out the possibility--especially when the idea of it happening to me seems so real.

But enough about my up-and-coming implosion; I do have something to blog about today, and it will only take a few short sentences, so get ready--I wouldn't want you to miss it!

I save each chapter in its own Word document, so I don't necessarily know how many words are in my MS at any given time. In the chapter, yes. In the MS, no--unless of course I take the time to add up all the different files, which is precisely what I did. And I was shocked to discover that I've been quite the busy little bee. My current word count for "Book 1" of the Immortal Series is at an unbelievable 35,822--and it completely snuck up on me!

I really don't know why I'm shocked by this--it isn't as if I don't write four-thousand-word chapters--but I am. It probably has something to do with the fact that when writing, I only look at the word count for each individual chapter, and that never goes above six thousand. To see the numbers 35,822 flash on the screen almost seems like some cruel kind of joke. But it isn't. I know because I added the numbers...

...three separate times.

So yay! Go me!  I'm "29%" done with my WIP, which is still--sadly--nameless.

Until next time, happy writing!