The halfway point: by the end of today you should have 25,000 words. How are you doing? Are you ahead? Behind? Are you completely and utterly delighted by the exciting world of writing, and you want to do it more and more every day for the rest of your life? Me too.

Also: we are pleased to announce the existence of the (fan created) Reading Excuses forum, a message board designed for you to meet and coordinate with other writers, to share your work, and to give comments. We (Brandon, Dan, and Howard) are not going to police this, it’s purely a sandbox for your guys to play in. Enjoy!