Cereal Box Reader

MaajaWentz.com

2014-07-14T19:00:00.004-04:00

I have moved to MaajaWentz.com where you will be able to find my blog archive, along with new posts about writing, teaching, and living creatively. I hope you will enjoy the articles about creative teaching, both with and without digital technology, as well as my forays into serial fiction.

Happy reading,

Maaja

My first Slam! Poetry as experience art, delivered as performance art

2014-07-14T13:27:00.000-04:00

Over morning coffee recently, I started thinking about the Beat Poets and cut-up poetry and choose-your-own-adventure books and hyperlinked fiction. There had to be a way to turn Internet surfing into a kind of 'experience art.' I was thinking about what I could create if I had the technical know-how, when I started writing a poem about it.

Soon after I received a reminder from the WCDR about their upcoming poetry slam competition. My piece felt like spoken word so I fired off an email stating my intention to perform. I should explain that I have my son's teen French exchange buddy living with us so we're extra busy. I had three days to rehearse, including two at my parent's cottage. I also have a longtime fear of forgetting lines in public. It's the reason I love improvisation but have never tried any serious acting. Let's say I spent a lot of the car trip desperately saying my lines in my head while the boys slept in the backseat.

I was delighted to get through my piece Monday July 7th but even happier to make the finals.

The finals Saturday were exciting but daunting when I realized there would be a camera as well as the live audience. My poem was well-rehearsed this time but I didn't expect to win. Who expects to win with their first effort? I performed, enjoyed the applause and basked in positive feedback, including from guest slammer Cathy Petch who performed as the votes were tallied.

I've deliberately written non-fiction and stories and I have several novels in various stages of editing. It's poetry I write the least and never deliberately. That's why it surprises me that I've had recognition for "When Johnny Mars Turns Five," publication of "Fallow God," in the Urban Green Man Anthology and made the finals with my slam, "Found Poetry Finds You." Perhaps the poetic muse exists after all. Perhaps there's something in the coffee.

Now if I could just figure out how to automate cut-up poetry...

Happy writing,

Maaja

New Canadian Noir & a French Exchange

2014-07-02T18:12:00.000-04:00

I just made the deadline to submit a story to The Exile Book of New Canadian Noir. Wish me luck as this anthology, edited by Claude Lalumiere and David Nickle is sure to attract a lot of submissions.

My other news is that I have started editing my latest novel, Hot Old Ladies Club. I hope to have a good draft, ready for beta readers by August. It will be real a challenge as this month I am entertaining my son's exchange partner until July 24.

I don't often talk about my family in this blog out of an almost superstitious fear that something bad will happen to my son if I mention him on the Internet. He's fourteen now so it's time to relax a bit. Heck, I'm letting him go to France and live with another family for a month. This is no time to be a helicopter mom.

The topic of exchanges is so interesting to me, both through personal experience and as a parent and educator, that I'm thinking of writing some non-fiction on the topic. More about that in a later post.

Happy reading.

Maaja

Camp NaNoWriMo

2014-04-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

I've set a goal to write the first draft of my new comedy in the month of April. It features an ensemble cast with earthy magic at the core of the premise and enough fun and games to call it screwball. "Hot Old Ladies Club," is about a ladies book club where a deal is made, a wish is granted, and that is why everything goes horribly wrong. I hope reading it will be as much fun as I'm having writing it.

Here are my stats so far:

Average Words Per Day 2,453
Words Written Today 3,346
Target Word Count 60,000
Total Words Written 34,342
Words Remaining 25,658
Current Day 14
Days Remaining 17
At This Rate You Will Finish On April 25, 2014
Words Per Day To Finish On Time 1,510

I have purposely set my target low. The story is more likely to be a bit over 70 000 words but if I have 60 000 by April 25, I should have a few extra days get it done by month's end.

Why set this kind of output goal? If it seems arbitrary, it's not. Professional fiction writers often write over 2000 words a day, in addition to editing and other writing-related work. I'm teaching myself to work more and write better, and with a story as funny as this one, I'm having lots of fun doing it.

Skiing Le Massif De Charlevoix

2014-04-12T11:08:00.000-04:00

Following my adventures in Peru, I spent a week in Quebec with a four French tourists. My friend, the parent of my high school exchange partner, is a remarkable woman who skis in the Pyrenees and who enjoys travelling all over the world. I spent an athletic week with them, hiking through snow on snow shoe trails, investigating fishing shacks on the St. Lawrence river and even skiing on something called "Le Massif," of Charlevoix. I'm no downhill skier. I'm afraid of heights! I had no right to even consider skiing on anything called "Le Massif." My ears popped as we drove up to the top.

Previously I have only skied a few times with school groups on tame, short, Ontario runs. I'm too restless to sit around in the chalet all day, though, so when it turned out the cross-country skiing was in another location (duh we were on top of a mountain) I decided to take a lesson and face the beginner run with death-defying bravery. Brave for me, anyway.

It was a fantastic experience and I only fell three times. Once when I kind of saw I was heading off course towards the trees below and forgot all about breaking and steering and just kind of threw my limbs around until my fall made me stop. After that I got a remedial lesson in emergency braking and things went better.

If this was one of those inspirational business blogs or one of those blogs about writing, I'd probably be making all sorts of facile comparisons between the slopes and other goals. What a relief that it's not. Let's just say I don't regret it. I'm glad I tried it and, despite having a little extra knee pain in the following weeks, it was absolutely worth it.

In other news, I never visit La Belle Province without buying a book. If you read French I highly recommend my latest acquisition. It's a book of short stories by Samuel Archibald called Arvida. Such varied stories and so revealing of the author and his society.

I bought the book and went to a cafe to start reading while I waited for my friends to finish shopping. When I returned to the book shop to show them about an hour later, the store had already sold another copy. It doesn't hurt that my edition had a large red paper band, labelling it the winner of the "Prix des libraires." (The book store prize)

Eclectic, personal and intense, I highly recommend it, but not for the squeamish.

Happy reading.

Off to Peru!

2014-01-31T11:59:00.000-05:00

I will be spending most of the month of February in Peru, socializing with my sister-in-law's family and friends and learning as much Spanish as I can. As a Canadian, I have French but my Spanish so far is just what I've picked up here and there from hobby courses or books. Time to get serious!

In the meantime, I've started a new novel but with the whirlwind of preparations for my trip, progress is slow. It's plotted out roughly and I know what kind of tone I want. I know the ending I'm building to and the characters. There is no reason not to work, except I can't concentrate on anything but my trip. Maybe I should be writing about that instead.

Hasta luego!

Maaja

Writing Contests & Writing Boot Camp

2013-11-15T17:20:00.003-05:00

This year I've decided to concentrate on writing short as well as long. I've been writing a crazy number of new stories, not all of which will see a polished draft. Many of them are the usual 2000 word length but I've been writing some very short ones as well.

If you are interested in short short stories, I recommend Holly Lisle's method to get the creative juices flowing. Hers is not the only way, but if you like to plan out your stories, this may work for you: How to Write Short Fiction That Doesn't Suck.

So far I've entered four contests in the past two months.

Zoetrope All-Story, Oct 1

Writer's Digest Pop Fiction Awards, Oct 15

CBC Canada Writes, Nov. 1

Writer's Digest Short Short Story Contest, Nov 15

I've included the links for your information.

For poets and poetry fans, I've also posted a couple of my poems recently on Wattpad which you can read here.

The titles are:

When Johnny Mars Turns Five

(Short listed by the Science Fiction Poetry Association Contest)

Coming Second (After W.B. Yeats)

(About plastic and the marine garbage patch)

Happy reading, and writing.

Maaja

Urban Green Man Online Book Launch, Can-Con Readings and NaNoWriMo Panel

2013-09-18T09:02:00.000-04:00

I will be reading a published story "Wild Caving" and my poem "Fallow God" from the Urban Green Man Anthology at Can-Con (Spec Fic Convention) in Ottawa, Canada on Oct 5-6. If you plan to attend, I will also be involved in the NaNoWriMo panel. I hope to see you there!

EDGE is holding an online book launch for the Urban Green Man Anthology starting October 2 at noon (CST). Go to www.bittenbybooks.com Oct. 2-3 and interact with the authors online. I'm going to try to log in around 3 pm CST each day. What time is that in your city? Here is a link to a time and date converter.

This should be great fun for readers who can interact with authors from all over. If you have always wanted to try an online book launch, I think it would be interesting to drop in and see how it's done.

Take care and happy reading,

Maaja

Spies are From Mars - The Horse can see the barn!

2013-08-12T11:57:00.002-04:00

Have you ever had a feeling of regret as you finished reading a book? You knew you would miss the characters and their stories, as if they were old friends. Well, it's a little different when you are writing the book. Sure, I'm a little sorry to finish rewriting Spies are from Mars, but I'm happy about it too. Today I reached page 223 of my manuscript, which adds up to 66 700 words out of between 70 000 and 90 000, depending on the editing process.

It's exhilarating when you get close to the end and the writing goes faster, like taking a trail ride when the horse suddenly sees the barn and gallops towards it. Nothing can stop it or slow it, especially not a newbie like me, hanging on with arms and legs any way I can.

Note: In my metaphorical version of this story, the horse does not stop fast when it reaches the barn and send me flying over its head.

Update: Aug. 14, 2013. The new draft is done. Stats: 74 100 words/ 247 pages.

Urban Green Man -- In my hot little hands!

2013-08-10T08:41:00.001-04:00

Update: I recently received my contributor's copy of Urban Green Man, including a green man pendant as an extra thank-you. How nice to have a souvenir from my first poetry sale!

This summer I'm taking a break from blogging and critiquing in order to finish the new draft of my work-in-progress, "Spies are from Mars." As of today I have written 57 800 words of a complete rewrite, and when I say complete I mean it. The only thing I didn't change was Mars.

I'm getting published, twice!

2013-05-12T23:20:00.002-04:00

I am bursting to tell you my publishing news, times two:

My short story "Wild Caving," is going to be published in the Amprosia anthology, which launches in two weeks.

My poem "Fallow God," is going to be published in the Urban Green Man Anthology, with an introduction by Charles De Lint.

The Green Man is an archetype of renewal and fertility, associated with forests and the European countryside. You might see his carved face disgorging sculpted stone leaves or hear legends of the Green Knight. He is at home in churches, forests and at the ever popular Green Man Inn.

This new anthology, edited by Adria Laycraft, takes the Green Man archetype into the modern landscape where he is reinvented, relevant, reborn. To me, the urban green man is a shot of hot sap to reawaken our true natures and shake us out of complacency.

EARTH

Evergreen by Susan MacGregor
The Gift by Susan Forest
Sap and Blood by Martin Rose
The Green Square by dvsduncan
Awake by Peter Storey
Breath Stirs in the Husk by Eileen Wiedbrauk
Green Apples by Rhiannon Held

AIR

The Grey Man by Randy McCharles
Mr. Green by Gary Budgen
Whithergreen by Karlene Tura Clark
Cui Bono by Eric James Stone
Fallow God by Maaja Wentz
Green Man She Restless by Billie Milholland

FIRE

Purple Vine Flowers by Sandra Wickham
Exile by Mark Russell Reed
Without Blemish by Celeste Peters
Waking the Holly Kin Eileen Donaldson
Deer Feet by Michael J. DeLuca
Buried in the Green by Heather M. O'Connor
The Forest Lord by Sarina Dorie

WATER

Greentropy by Calie Voorhis
Abandon All... by Goldeen Ogawa
Green Salvage by Miriah Hetherington
The Ring of Life by Nu Yang
Cottage on the Bluff Michael Healy
Johnny Serious Satyros Phil Brucato
Fun Sucker by Suzanne Church

WOOD

Greener Pastures by Micheal J. Martineck
Green Jack by Alyxandra Harvey
Green is Good by Karen Danylak
Neither Slumber Nor Sleep by Kim Goldberg

Lena Coakley's Witchlanders & WCDR Contest update

2013-02-16T18:25:00.002-05:00

Witchlanders

I attended the WCDR breakfast meeting this morning. Speaker Lena Coakley was excellent, laying out the seven things she wished she had known about story, before she published her first novel. Lena is the author of Witchlanders, a high fantasy YA novel.

Some of her tips were:

Learn about plot from screenwriters
Know what your protagonist wants before you start to write
Yearning must escalate in the protagonist as the story progresses
Stories need to have different but linked character arcs and plot arcs
Have your protagonist 'save the bunny' early in the story (perform some action to make readers like him or her)
Mind the gap, ensuring reader expectations and character challenges are always worse and more interesting than they originally appear
Use the objective correlative like a screen writer (the environment mirrors inner feelings)

This list is just a glimpse of Lena's ideas which were supported by anecdotes and examples from authors as varied as Charlotte Bronte, Garth Nix, Aristotle and Terry Pratchett. If you get a chance to hear Lena speak, you won't regret it.

Breakfast, with a side of suspense

While waiting for Lena to speak, we were served smoked salmon eggs Benedict, a delicious combination I could not eat. Why? They started naming finalists in the WCDR Amprosia contest. As my breakfast cooled, they called the final eight names, very slowly. I was sure I was 'out' when they said one last name, at the end of the alphabet: Maaja Wentz.

My story, "Wild Caving," moves on to the final round, judged by acclaimed novelist Terry Fallis. Honourable mentions as well as prize winners will be announced at the March 16 breakfast meeting. I wonder if I can stand the suspense?

My poem, "Fallow God," is being published!

2013-02-03T10:56:00.000-05:00

My latest poem, "Fallow God," is being published by Edge in their Urban Green Man Anthology. The book will be launched at When Words Collide in Calgary this August. I feel very lucky to be included.

Happy Reading!

Semi-finalist in SF Poetry & contest short lists

2013-01-20T07:50:00.001-05:00

I haven't blogged much lately but I do have some good news. One of my poems was shortlisted for the annual Science Fiction Poetry Association Contest. My name appears after the winners here.

I also have a piece shortlisted for inclusion in a fantasy fiction anthology which I can't mention by name until I know if my piece will be published.

Another of my short stories has made the semi-finals in the WCDR's Amprosia contest which offers a $1000.00 prize. Whether I win that one or not, semi-finalists are considered for publication so I'm happy about that as well.

The live critique group I belong to, Bloor West Writers, is back at it after the December holidays. I look forward to their literary and genre submissions. For now I have taken time off critiquing in the online SF/F Anticipation critique group because I have been in writing mode. In addition to the poems and stories I wrote this fall, this summer I completed the first draft of a new novel. You can read a description about it here on my blog.

Happy writing!

Drama, Poetry, Short Stories

2012-10-20T13:45:00.000-04:00

When the leaves change colours, I feel like going for walks to hear the crunch underfoot and wind up being inspired by all that natural beauty. Fall is the perfect time to spend evenings and early mornings curled up with a coffee to read or to write.

I'm having a busy season. This Sunday my very short one-act play "Dust on White Water," will get a staged reading at Toronto's Alumnae Theatre. It was written as part of a writing challenge. Playwrights received the theme (running water) last Friday and had until noon that Sunday to turn in a one-act play of ten minutes or less. The reading is open to the public and will take place from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm Sunday October 21. For directions or more info on the Alumnae theatre, see their website.

I also have my fingers crossed for a longer one-act play I submitted to the Alumnae Theatre's juried New Ideas Festival. If accepted, a producer and director would get it ready for presentation in March.

I'm editing at least one short story for a contest due Nov. 1, perhaps two if things go well. I'm also waiting to hear back about a poem of mine which made the short list in a contest I am not yet allowed to mention online.

Happy Reading.

Ark of the Convenient

2012-08-17T14:30:00.001-04:00

I completed the first draft of my work-in-progress "Ark of the Convenient," on Monday this week. This was a great new experience for me, completing a novel manuscript in less than two months, without rushing it because of a deadline.

Since then I have been letting it 'rest' while I clean out the office, work on the scenario for a new one-act play and gear up to edit my last manuscripts. I have a backlog of two since I find writing the draft of a new novel more fun than editing. The difficulty is prioritizing as my summer holidays dwindle.

Ark of the Convenient -- Writing at the Cottage

2012-08-13T15:02:00.001-04:00

I managed to write regularly over the last nine days despite parties, kids, singing, dancing, drinking, swimming, video taping a crazy family horror spoof and generally having a great time at the cottage.

My rough goal was to write a 80 000 word manuscript but I've reached "the end" of the rough draft in under 60 000. The finished novel will probably fall somewhere between 65 000 and 80 000 words.

Update as of 8/3/2012

58000 / 80000 (72.50%)

Ark of the Convenient -- I don't get 'writer's block'

2012-08-03T12:46:00.000-04:00

I never have writer's block in the pure sense. Ideas are easy to come by and if I sit down to write, I can always write story, character, scenario, scenes. What slows progress, is feeling my story is going down the wrong path. It means reevaluating, making changes, rewriting. Until all the problems are resolved, it is both painful and pointless to move forward. I have to be patient with the process.

Another problem is research. In a story set on Mars, there is a lot of world-building and speculation to do. For enrichment, I'm reading The Princess of Mars, inspiration for the recent film. It's a fun tale but it isn't really helping me research terraforming and Mars settlement scenarios. I could read web articles, non-fiction books and novels about Mars every day for the rest of the summer and I'd never run out of material, just writing time.

If "Ark of the Convenient," finishes around my approximate goal of 80 000 words, I'm halfway through the rough draft. I also know how it ends. Now, if I could just figure out the details between here and there...

Progress as of 8/03/2012

40400 / 80000 (50.50%)

Ark of the Convenient: A new novel inspired by Douglas Adams, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who

2012-07-08T10:19:00.001-04:00

Progress Update 7/27/2012

34180 / 80000 (42.73%)

I reached page 90 today. It's take stock time and, although I can see myself making progress, I am simultaneously discouraged. My writing will never be brilliantly scientific and philosophical in the way that Douglas Adams' novels are.

Instead of getting blocked, I spent a few hours on Mars research, which helped the flow of ideas. Reading Princess of Mars at the same time as researching Martian Rover missions and theories of terraforming yields strange combinations of ideas...

Progress Update 7/26/2012

32000 / 80000 (40.00%)

Progress today brings me to page 83 of my manuscript-in-progress "Ark of the Convenient."

Progress Update 7/24/2012

29000 / 80000 (36.25%)

This progress bar represents 75 pages of my new manuscript-in-progress "Ark of the Convenient."

Yesterday I also took the current draft of "Marmalade Cat Detective," and created a new outline for rewriting it using cards. I'm taking it in a slightly different direction, closer to my original vision for this piece which was always intended to be satirical and written for adults. It's an experiment...

Progress Update 7/18/2012

18408 / 80000 (23.01%)

Progress Update 7/16/2012

I took some time to put my outline onto cards and I've written a little more.

15162 / 80000 (18.95%)

Progress Update 7/12/2012

11229 / 80000 (14.04%)

Are you a compulsive writer? I'm one of those people who always believe their newest project is their best. On summer mornings, whether or not I have guests, I like to get up early and do some free writing. The result this July is the first chapter and outline for a brand new novel called "Ark of the Convenient." You could accuse me of procrastination. I already have Marmalade Cat Detective to edit for submissions and I did write the 50 000 word draft of a novel tentatively called "Wild Caving," which got positive feedback at an agent pitch session at the Ontario Writers' Conference. Both are worthy projects, but they can't compete with writing something new and funny over the summer.

One reason I'm dropping everything else to write "Ark of the Convenient" is I miss Douglas Adams. I miss reading new things from the author of Last Chance to See, The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul and, of course, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. It's such a shame that Douglas Adams is no longer with us. I yearn for the zany fun of his humour, as well as his satirical views on environmental issues.

Inspired by my love of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, Red Dwarf and Doctor Who, my story is about a failed grant writer, embroiled in civil war between humans, cyborgs and Martian Rovers 'gone wild.'

Rob Nohap is shanghaied aboard a colony ship where he is expected to promote Mars via social marketing campaigns. This Science Fiction romp involves a pet psychologist with fossil Martian DNA, a ship's computer who thinks she is Pipi Longstocking and the Wyms, an ancient dragon-like race who control wormholes through space. Can Rob can save an Ark of kidnapped humans and survive to impress the woman who was his high school obsession? I'm writing to find out...

Follow me for updates on my newest project. I still intend to podcast "Marmalade Cat Detective," but not until I have this hot new idea down as a first draft.

The Second Coming on Scribd

2012-06-10T10:08:00.001-04:00

I wrote a new poem this morning in homage to W.B. Yeat's Second Coming. It's my very first post on Scribd and I look forward to you comments and critiques. The title is "Coming Second."

MIROSLAV VAJDIĆ for openphoto.net

Podcasting and Writing Plays

2012-04-29T14:09:00.000-04:00

I have been less active on this blog lately because I'm starting a new podcasting project. I'm going to be podcasting my novel, "Marmalade, Cat Detective," at my new Marmalade Cat Detective blog.

I also have a long-term plan for writing a book on how to write and produce children's plays and videos.

I've had so much fun doing this over the years that I think it's time to share. I will always be grateful to Mike Taylor, a teacher who let me help direct some of his original plays. For me, many of the special projects teachers do have to be learned on the apprenticeship system. Working with Mike, I observed which elements of a show were crucial to successful school productions.

At first I was going to write a book about it. I even drew up a list of chapters and topics but the process seemed daunting. I work as a teacher-librarian, I'm a hockey mom and my first love is fiction. Where would I find the time to write a non-fiction book? Instead, I started a blog about the process of writing and directing scripts for kids called Dramafun. It seemed like a good way to share some of my tips and tricks with others.

Last night I discovered Howtoblogabook.com. It's ingenious! The idea is to write a blog which becomes a book. Written in small increments, even a long book shouldn't take more than a year to write. Who knows, maybe once I've taught myself to podcast by podcasting my novel, I might podcast episodes about making plays and movies with children as well.

Positive Rejection

2012-01-18T20:04:00.002-05:00

I had a very positive rejection for a poem I submitted to Strange Horizons recently. The editor suggested two other markets I could try and invited me to submit to Strange Horizons again. Yeah!

Books are magical

2012-01-14T18:42:00.002-05:00

I'm really enjoying running the Silver Birch Awards and Red Maple Awards programs this year as a librarian. It gives me a chance to read all the award-nominated books! I think this video captures a little bit of that magic feeling of discovery. More about the books and the club to follow. Happy reading...

Wayson Choy at WCDR

2011-12-10T19:33:00.001-05:00

I took away some great tidbits from Wayson Choy's talk at the WCDR breakfast this morning. It was the first time I have attended one of their monthly breakfast meetings although I've been to the related Ontario Writers Conference.

When I first stepped into the dining room at the Ajax Convention Centre, it reminded me of facing the cafeteria, my first day of grade nine. Most of the seats were full and there were countless unfamiliar faces. I sat down at a table near the back and crossed my fingers. I needn't have worried. WCDR members are very friendly. I enjoyed meeting new writers and saying hello to others I knew from CANSCAIP and beyond.

Choy began his talk by evoking discipline. He encouraged us to never give up but to find an individual writing process. Choy criticized teachers who insist all students learn as they do, likening this to a "teaching disability." With my background in special education, I have to agree. There are many ways to mastery and they are seldom the same for everyone.

Choy emphasized writers must try different methods and switch if they don't work. In other words: "If at first you don't succeed, don't be an idiot."

My other favorite Choy quotes were: "Good writing is great gossip" and "Don't call yourself a failure until you understand that failure is your teacher."

NANOWRIMO novel drafted in time

2011-12-01T06:14:00.001-05:00

This year I participated in National Novel Writing Month. It was great fun. I wrote a complete, short novel draft, mostly in the mornings between 5:00 am and 6:15, that is to say, before work. The information about my novel is on their site http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/participants/cerealboxreader but it will expire eventually. For archival purposes, here's what I wrote...

Author bio:

For Halloween this year, I went to school dressed as "Conan the Librarian." I speak fluent Hockey Mom. I've taught everything from Gifted grades 1-8 to French to Remedial Math. I prefer to hang with people who don't take themselves too seriously. I have completed the 3-Day Novel Contest and JulNoWrimo. This is my second NanoWrimo. Best of luck all! I'm going to have a lot of fun with this.

Synopsis:

An anthropology grad student finds love and breakthroughs, caving in southern France, but must defeat a prehistoric doppelganger who assumes her identity.

I do speed-writing experiments like Nano to try out new things, including new genres. This time I can't decide whether it's literary or horror, but for once I am writing a story in which two humans experience romantic longing. That does not mean I've written a Paranormal Romance :-)

Excerpt:

When she could extricate herself, Jade wanted a bath and a change of clothes, absolutely, but her desire for knowledge was stronger. She'd spent years studying cave paintings, bone remnants and tools, theorizing about paleolithic humans. She didn’t care how evil this thing was. She would give anything to find out what it knew.

My statistics:

Average Words Per Day: 1,698
Target Average Words Per Day: 1,667
Target Final Word Count: 50,000

I have completed the 50 000 words with about four scenes to go. I am estimating a word count of 60 000 for the next draft.