For all those people out there who think the end of the world is coming, it is not.

For all those people out there who think my story is getting the end, I really hope so.

I’m writing three separate chapters, each a little at a time, trying to dovetail the sequence of events that will lead to the unmasking of the murderer and find the whereabouts of 30 odd missing persons.

What had begun as a simple quest has turned into a convoluted tale of lies, distortions, and people whose propensity for being something other than who they appear, had muddied the waters,.

Yep, everything you’d expect in a completely unexpected ending.

I hope.

Got the 50,000 words, 51,540 to be exact, but the story is not done yet.

Hasty revisions, adding more words, taking out some others, it’s a long and difficult day, with the yellow post-it note collection growing exponentially.

Where would we be without them, endless scraps of paper strewn over an already cluttered desk?

All it would take was one enthusiastic cleaning lady, and it would become an ‘oh-my-god’ moment.

The end, however, is becoming clearer, and I’m working towards it from three different angles.

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?

No.

You know how it is when a brilliant plot line comes to you in the middle of the night, when you’re half asleep, after a long day of writing.

A long day maybe, but not much writing, because the current plot line heading towards the end doesn’t gel.

I write a page or three, toss it.  Another page, toss it.  Another two pages, toss it.

Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn.

Another secondary character wants to come out and play a bigger part, except that to do this I have to go back and seed a few pointers so that the revelation doesn’t seem skewed, or worse, coming out of nowhere.

No sleep tonight, have to sow the seeds while it’s fresh in my mind.

Seriously, with only seven days to go and this pops into my head?

Or something like that, it’s a rather interesting expression I had to look up.

There’s more than one meaning, perhaps referring to being near the ocean and tasting the salt in the air, or the fact that your objecting is so close to attainment, it is assured.

But I once again digress…

49,042 words, Day 22, 8 more days to go, 1,000 odd words to make the magic 50,000.

This novel, though, is not going to be within the 50,000-word limit, it is going to be more like 60,000 words.

Currently, I’m working on the ‘surprise’ ending…

Yes, it’s that time, nearly three weeks in, and writing a story sequentially from start to finish has some perils involved with it.

Like the plotting, and like any good actor given a bit part in a movie, the objective is to make it their own.

I think it’s called, grabbing hold of your fifteen minutes of fame and using it.

Characters do this us, they force themselves out of their restrictive cacoon.  One of mine has taken her bit part and is now the frontrunner for the villain.

How do you make such personable people drip with evil?

After two days in the technological wilderness, we are back, which must say something about the human condition.

I’m sure, one day, the internet will collapse and billions of us will go through the same withdrawal symptoms I just did, and there’ll be a lot of clean rooms around.

Even so, there are those two items that were very prevalent when I went to school, pencils. HB or 2B, or colored, and lined paper in what was called an exercise book, 48 pages, 64 pages, 96 pages or 128 pages.

I am yet to equate words to an exercise book page, but that’s the least of my problems.

Still working on the new killer, and a perfect match for the hero.  Yes, I’m hoping we can have a happy ending for at least two characters.

The others, well, you reap what you sow!

There are no more surprises at least for today.

We have no internet, the power company came along and removed an old pole and that was the end of it.

It’s amazing what you can’t do when there’s no internet, and then all the things you said you would do one day if only you had the time.

This mornings word count accumulates quickly without the distractions so I had the afternoon to finally clean up my workspace.

Now I can’t find anything.