Five thousand words on Chapter One of the novel. Going by the 50,000 word goal set by NaNoWriMo, that puts me at the ten percent mark - an unbelievable milestone, considering how little I've written over the past ten years and how long this particular book idea has been stewing in my head. Granted, National Novel Writing Month is in November, so I'm either really late for 2002 or super early for this year's festivities, but NaNoWriMo has inspired me nonetheless, so thank you Chris Baty and company (and thanks to the Rabbit Blog for tipping me off to such an organization in the first place). Maybe if all goes well with this work-in-progress, I'll sign up next November officially in order to kick-start myself along with another project. Right now however I'm in a celebratory mood. I may not finish the first draft of the novel in a month, but if I can keep to the pace I've set so far, I could have pretty close to 50k by mid-April, when another work-in-progress - my lovely and lively daughter Andriana, a.k.a. "Kicky Toe", who is celebrating her 34th week since conception today - is on schedule to make her big debut. Here's to seeing both in a month and a half!