So here, on October 25th, I said that I would give myself until late November to finish the novel… and then here, one week later, I was almost ready to tackle the final chapter. Now it’s November 17th – which to most scholars and thinkers would be considered late in the month – so, with only thirteen days left until December, how am I progressing with the novel?

Have I finished the penultimate chapter? Yes. I am now fully embroiled in knocking in that final nail, and I know where and how the story finishes, so that’s all good. The word count has crept over 80,000, and I still expect to add another three or four thousand to that number, so it’s all going very much to plan… except, it really isn’t.

I got a new job last week and not only is it sucking the hours out of my day, but it’s siphoning a lot of my creativity along with it, which kinda sucks at this stage of the game. When I get home, the last thing I want to do is write, but I know it has to be done – motivation be damned. Make no mistake: I will power through it, but it’s a minor annoyance that my job is interfering with my work.

So yes, it will be done in late November, as specified, but it’s going to be a hell of a lot closer to the end of the month than I had anticipated. But November is National Novel Writing Month after all, so if ever there was a time to finish it, it’s now.