reflecting on the 40,000th word

On passing the 40,000 word mark. I realize that Valerie Mason John may have been very right when she told me that there was a possibility that I just could not say goodbye to my characters. This when we were discussing my first attempt at writing a novel centering on tribal life.

In between 35,000 words and 40,000, I felt the block hit me. It was like pushing against a wall of stone and the going was all uphill. Believe it or not, I actually fell asleep while writing one section somewhere before reaching 40,000. The wonder of it, is that when I passed 40,000 the view opened up and I could see the stretch of road beckoning me towards the finish line. There was the final conflict I had been building up to, that scene were all the loose ends finally would get knotted. I just had to stop for the night because tomorrow is another day and I still have to figure out how battles are fought.

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Looking back, I can't help but think about how the struggle to reach the goal of 50,000 words is reflective of my struggle to reach Christlikeness.

Sometimes, I do fall asleep, but I realize now, that if I fall asleep while in the process of being trained, I won't be any good at all when the time for battle comes.
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