post-chapter interlude

That's it, another chapter bites the dust. I finished draft 1 of chapter 18 this morning. How happy am I with it? Very happy that it's complete. As for quality, I'm in no position to say. Whatever strengths it may have will be invisible to me now. The aspects of it that I take most for granted will be its best points when I read it over weeks or months from now. According to my own sensibilities, it's the story that counts most, and that's the part that is least visible to me right now.

I plugged the numbers into my spreadsheet; I'm now 38% of the way through draft 1. I'm starting to feel more like I can do this, finish it. Chapters don't feel like such a big deal anymore, as they did when I first launched my draft. They're kind of like months at my age: they whiz by.

As ever, I have a feeling of upliftedness and celebration on finishing a chapter. To boot, it's a Friday, so I'll take a bit of extra pleasure in having my glass of wine before (and during) dinner. A half-cord of firewood arrived today as well, so we're ready for the colder weather on its way. Right now it's still sunny, with a cool autumn breeze that chilled my shirtless body as I ran through the warm rays.

Next up: I suppose I could wash the dishes. But I might just pass Go and get on with tea and reading. Mostly I have been reading A History of Technology, volume 1 (I'm on page 510), Alexander the Great (page 255), and, for pleasure, Coal: A People's History (page 184). It's never assured that I will finish any book before the mix changes and a book drifts to the bottom of the stack, eventually to be shelved.

The weekend is here. The pilot-light of research will burn on.