Was working on the current book today (only a few more chapters to go to finish the draft! Whoohoo!) and on a whim highlighted all the text of this one and the previous three within Scrivener to do a total word count. Went 'whoaaa' at the result of 507k. I know many authors here have a lot more than that, but still - only a few years ago the thought of even finishing one book was horribly daunting and felt ever out of reach. Passing 500k really feels like a milestone.

To all the aspiring writers out there, just know it can be done! Even if you've been procrastinating for over a decade (like I did!) it's absolutely possible. I guess for me the 'trick' was to start writing in a tone/manner which made it fun, a bit of throwing in the towel with a 'eh, let's just see what happens if I write a first chapter' without taking it too seriously. And then before I knew it that first book was drafted. Later ones took longer it's true, but those were admittedly more complex - and hopefully deeper in meaning and scope. But they wouldn't have happened without the 'oh what the hell' attitude that kicked off #1.

So good luck out there and keep at it! And I also totally recommend Scrivener, it's been an absolute blessing to work with. I keep all the books in a single 'project' for instant access to any chapter for needed reference, without that it'd be impossible to keep track of everything!

- Erisian :)