Light at the end of the tunnel - - -

Well, it looks like I might be seeing a glimmer of hope where the ms. is concerned. I've got it whittled down to 59,000 words. This is good and bad. The good news is that it's only 10K over at this point. That's not horrible, although it might mean taking out some of my favorite scenes. The bad news is that I still have to write an ending chapter tying up all the loose ends AND add in a crucial scene or two. One will depend on the other.

My thoughts at this point are that I could go 60K and hope for the best. Many children's books are sailing past the 50K mark. But, I'm not sure how many of them are getting published. Will keep on whittling. I think I've pared the first ten chapters down as much as they can go. There are two iffy chapters that I could possibly cut whole. Another I can cut if I carve out some crucial information and put it into another chapter. Time will tell.

I had thought to take the laptop along on our midwinter vacation this week, but decided against it. There will be too many boys in the truck to insure its safety. Also, I will be out of the suite too much to guard it. Better to leave it safe at home and work on some printed projects. (As if I will get to do much writing! I always drag something along in great hopes.)

Supposidly, I'm supposed to be part of a writer's discussion/round table forum. Am trying to figure out what to take along. An editor from Home Education Magazine is going to make an appearance and it just so happens I have this article I wrote - - - GRIN!

As a nod to January and the fact that I should be organizing my goals for the year, I bought a planner. I'm going to take it along and list all my projects, finished work, work to be recycled and try to make a schedule to get some things sent out.

Finished the Scribes bulletin page today. This was a project for my writing group at church. We've been given permission to have a page on a semi-monthly basis. It looks good even though I know nothing about using a publishing program.

Also finished (a January girl) my short story, "Girl vs. Grump." Am planning to send that out by the end of January. After that, it's time for two contests! Need to get my entries ready.

If it doesn't snow, I'm joining a friend for lunch. After that, I need to do some shopping for the upcoming trip. We had to move our departure time to Tuesday and the S work is being whispered on the news. Sure hope we get out of here and the snow moves on to New England where it belongs! :)