With more than half an hour to spare I validated > 50,000. Got to 50,292 before midnight local time. Yep, that's a self-satisfied little smile on my virtual face! But can someone please tell me, why the heck do I have butterflies in my tummy? Aren't I supposed to feel happy, giddy even, and relieved?

I suspect I'd feel a whole lot less anxious if I could just click 'delete'. End of responsibility. (No, I won't actually DO that; I still like the story, so far anyway.) I'm just not sure I like the responsibility of a half finished first draft. It kind of hollers, "finish me!"

Okay, now for sleep and rehearsals and performances galore. Such a busy handbell year, with regular gigs plus a couple of smaller, special purpose ensembles. And to a lesser extent for the quartet too getting the seasonal repertoire rolling. And of course gotta get the dogs to forgive and forget the short shrift they've been getting these last few weeks. I do wish NaNoWriMo was any other month than November (or December)! Back to Mudcat may have to wait a few more weeks.