Snail's pace

Traces up to 17,500 and Scratches at 9,000. Which means I'll be struggling to make my (modest enough) targets for April.

Lots of excuses can be offerred. Dental pain. Exhaustion. Friends fro Europe who are only in country for a few days. Spouses who insist on having a social life and children demanding / deserve attention. The need to actually venture outside occasionally. Absurd things like accidentally flattening the car battery at night and - after having it jumped by a helpful taxi driver - having to drive round tonwn for ages when I was planning to be at home writing ... the way everything just becomes so much more interesting when the alternative is sitting down to write.

Also plot issues are starting to manifest themselves. As long as I don't look more than 500 words ahead a t a time, I'm okay, but if I do I'm struck with the screaming horrors and the dizzying realisation that I Have No Idea Where I AM Going With This. Well, not uite, but there's so many big gaps and questions and stuff, that it makes me nervous.

Also the urge to edit. I want to make some significantish changes to Traces - make the setting more compact, instead of having my investigator look into an out-of-town killing. It seems inappropriate that the first novel in what should be a long and very commercial series is set outside the main character's home town. Hmmm. It can all be done. Should it be done? SHould I do it now, or later? I'm not used to this. i'm used to the Hell-for-leather desperatino of Nano, where plot holes are simply ignored, if you have time to notice them at all.

Still, should get close to my targets, if I don't actualyl get there. Which isn't bad.

And the damn tooth is coming out this week, I hope. Maybe things will seem different once I'm not doped up to the eyeballs.