Halfway Done!

I hit a milestone on “Dream Reunion” today – halfway finished!  Eight chapters are written (actually, I’m more than halfway, because I’ve got about 5,000 words that will go into chapter 14-15 written as well), which means eight to go.  And the cover is being worked on right now.  So everything is moving along.  I won’t make my self-imposed October 31st deadline for the first draft, but I think I can make November 15th, and if I do, I can have the book out in time for Christmas as I hoped.

So far in the book, Sara has had a baby, performed a neo-natal surgery, discovered that she’s actually a terrible business manager, had several dreams about someone who’s planning to burn down their own business for the insurance money, and had her shameful secret teenage crush on Rick Springfield outed.

In the second half of the book, she’s going to attend her ten-year college reunion, meet several old friends, be forced into an unexpected and very awkward talk about “the birds and the bees,” figure out who’s having the dreams of arson, have the worst fight she’s ever had with her husband, visit a confession booth for the first time in her life, and be forced to make a gut-wrenching choice.

I pretty much know everything except whether to soften the ending or not.  I know what the more dramatic (and more realistic) answer is, but I’m not sure if I can do that to Sara.  We’ll see how things go.

Here’s the very last paragraph of chapter 8:

“Yes, Mom!”  Well, that’s settled.  I’m worried about Grace growing up too fast and getting exposed to things she shouldn’t be, and what’s the first thing I’m going to do with her on this trip?  Take her to a bar.  Nobody ever said being a parent was easy, right?