First draft update!

Because every so often a dramatic gesture spurs one into action, I decided to complete the first draft today, come hell or high water. That represented about 8,000 or 9,000 words, at a rough guess - I knew exactly what needed to be written and it was just a matter of taking a deep breath and going hell-for-leather. The slight insanity of the task appealed to me. Doing something a bit crazy now and then has to be good for the skin. Or something.

I've been working since 8 this morning and have written just over 6,000 words so far, reaching the 100,000-word mark (which feels very significant, even though it doesn't have any intrinsic importance to this draft). Still going! I'll let you know when it is all done later this evening and will give you all a glass of virtual bloggy bubbly.

"Write the damn book." - Jane Yolen

"I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee." - Flash Rosenberg

"The only way [the book can be written] is to set the unbook - the gilt-framed portrait of the book - right there on the altar and sacrifice it, truly sacrifice it. Only then may the book, the real live flawed finite book, slowly, sentence by carnal sentence, appear." - Bonnie Friedman

P.S. I can't find a definitive origin for the phrase hell-for-leather, although there are quite a few theories: I always imagined it had something to do with a horse's leather tack and hard riding. Anyone else have a better idea?