i'm not an action writer, or a writer of action, so naturally, 8000 words into my novel i feel my characters are not doing much. they kind of hang around. they did do things in the beginning, but not anymore. they think about the past. they observe things. that's bad. according to my outline the next several segments should have action, but for today, even my outline says "A. contemplates; M. is idealistic...etc".

for now i am letting them be. when i know them better, during my second draft, they might break into some action. or maybe it is their day off of sort. i want to ride through this seeming slump as fast as i can. i want to be on my second draft already, where i can start paying attention to details, rather than making comments on my margins, in point form.

but maybe there needs to be a sort of lull. i will have to see as i reread the manuscript. after all, A. still doesn't know that her husband is having an affair, and her husband still doesn't know that A. just discovered a lump in her breast.

my word count is right on target. today i wrote 1000, which is 500 words above my self-imposed limit.