Whining about wordcount (and hope from Neil Gaiman)

Yesterday, halfway through a chapter inTransmigration of Cora Riley, I had no idea where I was going. This led to sketching a longhand breakdown, which went okay. Then I did a stupid thing and started doing math.

Turns out, if I keep going at this clip, with the outline I’ve got, the book will clock between 55,000 and 60,000 words. 20K short of the goal you see in the sidebar .

Cue melodramatic tailspin of doom! It sounded like this:

Why can’t I write a “real novel”? Will I ever be able to write...