fleeting accomplishment

Yesterday, I wrote 817 words and finished Chapter Nine. Only one chapter to go. I've reach ms. page 555. Yesterday, I estimated that the finished ms., including the two appendices, would go to about 650 pages, by far my longest novel. At this point, the ms. of Daughter of Hounds is 119,600 words in length. I think that I may actually come in under, or at least not go very far over, my 150K-word limit, which is sort of a surprise. But, as I near THE END, I'm feeling kind of reluctant to finish this book. I'm not sure why. It's not going to be a terrible grim ending, as was the case with Murder of Angels and Low Red Moon. It will, I think, be a fairly gentle, bittersweet sort of an ending. Perhaps it will not be a genuine ending at all.

I also signed the signature sheets for the hardback edition of Subterranean #2 yesterday. Now I have to mail them to Michael Bishop, so that he can do likewise. As a reward, for finishing the chapter and the signature sheets, I had a hot bath and watched two episodes of Farscape ("Nerve" and "Beware of Dog"). I tried to beat the latest incarnation of Maester Seymour, but kept getting my eema kicked (Leh'agvoi? What am I doing wrong?). I gave up and went to bed early, about midnight, and Spooky and I talked for a long time. Lately, there's much to talk about.

Spooky carved the cat jack-'o'-lantern yesterday. It's adorable. She'll likely post photos on her LJ. Right now, she's sewing catnip bats on an old Singer machine made in somewhere in Scotland back in the '40s. When I read her this, she'll say I shouldn't write so much about her. I never did mention the Squidward Tentacles Pez dispenser she brought me a couple of days back (though I did mention the Halloween one). And I just noticed that Pez dispensers are made in Hungary.

Speaking of tentacles, the poll is still open and I'm still watching the results. At this point, we have 72 interested persons, so I'll definitely be proceeding with this project. Seeing these numbers, I figure we'll easily have reached the 125-subscriber cap by the time I'm ready to actually launch the service early next year (January or February). As I've said elsewhere, people who vote in the poll or send me an e-mail (lowredmail@mac.com) or tell me that they're interested via the phorum will be get first crack at this. I'm considering other "extras" I might offer subscribers, including a monthly monster doodle sculpture giveaway and sneak previews of stories and novels, stuff like that.

Okay. That's enough for now. There's mischief to make...