Forward Progress

It's tough to type with 9 fingers instead of 10.  I sliced into the pointer finger of my left hand a few days ago with a dull kitchen knife.  "Use the older knife," I'd thought at the time.  "Less of a chance to accidentally cut yourself."  I should have also reminded myself not to cut towards my hand when opening the package or to be carrying on 2 conversations while doing so.  Such a lethal combination resulted in a nasty, deep slice into my finger (and, of course, the ensuing hysteria and theatrics that must naturally accompany such an episode).

This kitchen slasher debacle has coincided with an unusually productive period of writing my novel.  It's been full steam ahead these past few days, and I've been writing more than I have in previous months working on it.  Typing without the left pointer presents a challenge, but I'm trying not to let it deter me.  I've certainly latched onto much, much less painful excuses not to write — the proverbial "writer's block," Anderson Cooper on CNN, hunger pangs and chocolate chip cookie dough at 11:00 p.m.  (The cookies were a necessity.  Seriously.  The book can wait.)

I'm on the downslide in my novel, pushing through to the end.  The build-up and big climax are behind my characters, and now they — and me — are trying to figure out how to untangle themselves from the dramatic webs I've woven for them.  I know where I want them to be, both physically and emotionally, by the time I type "The End," which is supremely comforting.  Getting them there, though, is the last part of my novel-writing challenge.  I started off not knowing where the first few pages of my story would take me, and now, more than 125 single-spaced pages later, I'm in awe that I've not only written so much, but that I haven't given it up in the process.  It's scary to wonder where it might take me once it's complete.  It may only be as far as the laps of friends and family who are curious enough to read it, but the whole process has meant something very special to me along the way.  That will have to be enough.

On to forward progress...