Tuesday, November 6th: Urg.. time got away from me

Today was not bad, but time really got away from me. I wrote some final articles to see if I could place in the Helium contests. I hope for the best.

I also finished my proposal for the Mars Betrayal and sent it off.

I did not get started on The Cabin.

I did not finish re-writing Chapter 3 of the User Manual, although I did get started on it. That's fine. I will do it first thing tomorrow, and I will also do Chapter 4.

Then I hope to spend much of tomorrow afternoon working on getting at least 5000 words on The Cabin done. I am excited and nervous about starting this next novel. It will be my second, and you think it would get easier. But I know now what it takes to actually complete a novel, and I can see why the second is harder to get going on. I feel like once I get going, I will be able to give myself to it.

But I still need to maintain a strong presence on at least the College Writing Contest on Helium, so that I can try to win the grand prize at the end of it. Four weeks to go!

I love what I am doing. It feels great. I don't love not having a real income yet, although I know that these things take time. Patience and logic don't really affect the pressure and stress I feel to succeed at this, however.

But I really have to sleep. I will keep at this. I will accomplish what I want and need. This dream will not be forgotten or lost.