Ending and beginning

One month later, I've gone from 24,483 to 43,287 words. I am a cross-eyed hunchback. Camille, a Dread Crew reader and daughter of a friend, sent me a much-needed package of nudge notes.

43,287 words, yet there's still so much to tell. Scenes and conversations and places that need to exist, plot holes that need to be filled. Penelope said 50,000 is your absolute limit but at that long, it had better be solid gold or else. And I'm wondering about the Or Else. She goes at it with big hefty pruning shears. Or a combine harvester.

But you know what? I'm looking forward to it, the gulag almost over. It's almost time to bring in all this hay, to make food and sense out of a raw story, grossness written in bug juice. I'll do my best, Camille.