Well, I met my goal to write 5,000 words of my novel in the month of November. It feels pretty good to open up the file and see a word count of 5,078. My husband asked if the words were good ones, which is a fair question. I believe a sampling—portal, secrets, it, gold, sauerkraut, grammar, taxi, her, the, marveled, apricot, stretch, chimney—shows a range from banal to mildly intriguing.

In the spirit of randomness, here are some additional observations about the experience of starting my novel:

1. I wrote the second chapter first.
2. There is a sex scene in the very first chapter. Who saw that coming?
3. I kept misspelling the heroine’s name (not a good sign). Then I stumbled upon the perfect name, the meaning of which is virtually the working title of the novel. (Home˃Replace)
4. I had a general outline in mind, but I didn’t know what I was going to write from one paragraph to the next or even from one sentence to the next. I often thought, “Okay, now what?”
5. Because I was writing for volume, there was the temptation to be wordy. I admit to using the word very eight times (though not in a row).
6. On a related note, I avoided editing, because editing almost always shortens.
7. I discovered that you can research the small things as you go.
8. Okay, now what?
9. I am very, very, very pleased with my novel so far.
10. Publicly stating my goal motivated me to achieve it. (Humiliation is one of the five basic fears.)

The big question is, “Okay, now what?” I should probably call my writing coach. She’s the last person who would think I’d ever write something.