So I Can't Count....

I know when I finished writing Family Secrets that I said the word count was at a little over 86,000 words.

I cut and trimmed, and checked again, only to discover once I put it all together that I was at over 88,000 words. I forgot to add in the word count for this prologue I wrote that I am really pleased with.

I know I said no epilogue. Even my proof-reader agreed. Where I wrote "The End" on the manuscript, she changed it to "To Be Continued...."

But, I did get this great brainstorm for a prologue. It introduced Mike earlier in the book instead of his voice suddenly showing up in Chapter 11. I tweaked my last chapter -- my non-epilogue --  so that it and the prologue are like two book ends holding the middle chapters together.

I missed the contest deadline I was shooting for. It was still open last night, but by tonight, the contest had reached its maximum number of allowed entries. Oh, well. Shooting for the contest gave me the goal and motivation to write those last almost 40,000 words within the last four weeks, get my manuscript proof-read and corrections made.

I still would like to cut my novel to around 85,000 words. Time to prep this baby for finding a publisher.