Word count -- DEADLINE.

Words: 14,029
Total words: 138,737.
Estimated to go: 6,063.
Reason for stopping: This is actually from last night. It was time to stop writing and get some sleep.
Music: Lady GaGa, Glee, the Counting Crows, and the cats complaining about being ignored.
Lilly and Alice: probably asleep right now, the little feline traitors.

So despite my somewhat belated realization that the book was 20,000 words longer than I originally thought it was going to be, things are chugging right along, and I'm on target to finish the first draft this weekend. Luckily, I have Sooj and K showing back up at my place on Monday, thus giving me an excuse to celebrate successful completion with cupcakes. My current estimates say that I'm a chapter and a half and the coda away from being done done done-y mcdonecakes. Whee!

(I also have a list of elements/themes to look for during the revision, and things that either need to be tightened up, redacted for being unnecessary, or reworded to make sense to people who don't think reading about the life-cycle of Ebola is fun. But that's what the second draft is for.)

I feel both insanely accomplished and very sort of shell-shocked, like this is the beginning of the ending. I've grown to really love this world and these characters. I've been a horror girl all my life, and Feed was my first horror novel, and Newsflesh my first horror series. But now book two is ending, and book three will only last a year, and then...

Well, then, I guess it's back to the drawing board to find something else to scare me. Six thousand words to go.

We're almost there.

In which ASL makes everything AWESOME.

Yesterday, I was demonstrating to a friend of mine (who finds my fascination with ASL charming, if odd) that I can now sign "Behold! For now I wear the human pants!" My grammar is a little wonky, but I'll be seeing Judi in a few weeks, so right now I'm just working on getting the signs committed to muscle memory.

A Deaf gentleman about my age saw me signing, and got very excited. He came over, and signed, "You know ASL?" (In the case of signs that I don't know myself, but whose meaning was evident from context, I'm including them to form actual sentences.)

I signed back "A little." Emphasis on "little."

He asked what I knew...so I showed him. Around the time I hit "working in a mine for our robot overlords" and "did I say overlords? I meant protectors," he started to look, well, dubious. Like there was a chance I thought I knew some ASL, when really, someone was messing with me.

Then I signed "The Turtle can't help you."

His eyes widened, and he proceeded to finger-spell "IT?" I nodded. He made an "S" sign, followed by a gesture like putting on a crown. I nodded again. He got even more excited, especially since now he knew I actually understood my messed-up assortment of signs. He had me teach him "robot overlords," and he taught me the sign for "weird."

ASL and Stephen King: bringing the world closer together. The best part is that, for once in my life, I can legitimately say that the Turtle did help us.

It's a movie! Yeah, we're gonna make a movie!

I'm bored, and this is dangerous. So...

Cast your movie version of Rosemary and Rue! Tell me who you'd pick to play the major roles, and why. The cast list I find the most utterly delightful will win a signed ARC of A Local Habitation.

To get you started, here are some main characters to consider:

* October "Toby" Daye
* Sylvester and Simon Torquill
* Devin
* Dare
* Tybalt
* Connor O'Dell
* Danny
* Luna Torquill
* Rayseline Torquill

Game on!

ETA: ...and a winner has been chosen. Feel free to keep on casting, though, this is hysterical!

Tonight's winner!

Tonight's winner, for amusing our panel of extremely giggly judges, is kittikins! She's won an ARC of A Local Habitation for awesomeness in fake casting.

The LOLtest is still open through Sunday. Thanks, all!