80,000 Words in

Look, listen, look….

I’ve written a lot of words in my life, my overused keyboard can attest to that. In fact, between the various iterations of the Blue Lake series, I’ve easily put down hundreds of thousands of words. But here is the catch: up to this point, I’ve never written more than 50,000 words for a single story.

Until now.

I have officially hit 80,000 words for Bob’s Trading Post.

It has been fascinating to see how different this process feels compared to the frantic sprints of National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo, as the kids call it. For those who aren't familiar, NaNoWriMo was a non-profit that challenged writers to draft an entire novel every November. Though they closed their doors in April of 2025, I will forever be grateful to them. That organization sparked my love for the process and was the direct catalyst for the Blue Lake Mysteries. Every November, I needed a new spark, and Blue Lake simply never ran out of secrets.

But moving beyond that 50k ceiling feels like entering a new frontier. At my current pace, I expect to hit my final goal of 95,000 words within the next two weeks.

I’m realistic, of course—I know not all of these 80,000 words will survive the final cut (editors gotta edit). But I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be standing here: 80,000 words deep, with the finish line in sight and the world as my oyster.

Once I have everything pieced together and polished, I’ll be looking for Beta Readers. If you’re subscribed to my newsletter, keep an eye on your inbox—I’d love to have you join me for this next chapter of the journey.