06/12/2011: Before the Dawn Progress Report (and a couple of other things)

Making slow but steady progress on Chapter 21, which is good.  If I can maintain the slow but steady progress, I should be able to chug through the rest of the first draft before the world ends on December 21, 2012.*

As of right now, Chapter 21 is 3,034 words in length.  Overall, the novel is 62,426 words in length, 17,574 words until my goal of 80,000 words.

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The couple of other things...

As I've said, I work on multiple projects at the same time.  Given the way my mind works, this is best for me.  I'm always coming up with thoughts, ideas, characters who may or may not fit into whatever project I'm focusing on.  Working on multiple projects allows me to clear all that out.  Despite what some I've discussed this with believe, I've never gotten details of the individual stories confused.

As it turns out, the late Isaac Asimov did the same thing.  As the blog post "Doing the Asimov" by James Scott Bell says, Asimov would have multiple typewriters around his apartment, each with different projects.  Get stuck on one, move on to another and keep writing.

I can't afford multiple laptops (does anyone still make typewriters?) but I can afford multiple notebooks.  So if I get stuck on Before the Dawn, I can turn to "The Fault Lies Not...".  Get stuck on that one, I can turn to "My Soul To Keep".  I keep it at three projects.

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Below are pictures of Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Janice Rand, Star Trek TOS) and Marianna Hill (Doctor Helen Noel, Star Trek TOS, "Dagger of the Mind").  A couple of characters bear a striking resemblance to them.  Who?  I'll tell you later.

* No I don't believe the world is going to end on December 21, 2012.  Why don't I?  Check out this site http://www.2012hoax.org.  It's dedicated to the topic of 2012, a good, logical site that debunks the insanity.