October 5th – 850,867

Well, today I went through the 850k barrier! To be honest, I think I passed the milestone with a whimper rather than with a bang, and for the first time in two weeks, my word count has dipped below the 4,600-5,000 word mark – having managed a mere 3,105 words, around 1,000 this morning and the rest after tea, but I’m now shattered.

At least I had a cast iron excuse – from 9:00am this morning till 4:00pm this afternoon I was at the New Writers UK showcase book pare at the Gedling Civic Centre. Since I was not only manning a stall for Bluewood, I was also one of the guest speakers I had a lot of preparation to do and I find facing an audience a mentally draining experience.

Luckily, I tend to “tour” the same talk throughout the year so this was nowhere near the first time I’d given it, and practice certainly makes it easier – however, each audience is different. Having said that, it was heartening to be approached prior to the talk by two different people, both of whom had been recommended to come and listen to me but people who’d already heard the talk. That was a serious ego burst for me – because a lot of the time you give a talk and afterward, apart from a couple of people, the audience drifts away and you don’t see or hear from them again.

My thanks to Sunita for covering the stall for me while I gave the talk, and for providing conversation during those moments when the show was slow and we had no one visiting the stall.